My friend Tom Lewis would probably laugh in surprise to learn he was sharing column space with Jane Goodall. “You think you might be inflating my reputation just a little bit?”

What can I say? That’s what happens when you lose two good people within a couple of weeks of each other. Especially when … but hang on, I’ll get there.

I first met Tom at the Longmont Theatre Company when he played one of the bad guys in “The Foreigner,” a hypocritical minister who smiled to the world while also leading the local Ku Klux Klan. It was a brilliant acting job, in part because nothing could have been less like him. Tom’s smile had no malice behind it — just a good heart, a wry sense of humor and an amazing eye with a camera, thanks to his many years as a videographer.

Jane Goodall … well, where do you even begin with Dame Jane? Primatologists who become pop culture icons are rare. But seemingly everyone knew of her and her decades of work with chimpanzees, finding a depth — and a familiarity — in them that few would have realized. When “The Far Side” teased her, everyone got the joke. When she spoke on conservation, millions listened.

So far as I know, Tom and Jane never met. And their stories, while cool, don’t sound all that similar at first blush. Even their departures were worlds apart: He left way too soon in a motorcycle accident; she passed peacefully in her 90s.

But there’s a common tie of compassion and understanding … qualities that too often seem to be in short supply.

If you saw Tom’s obituary in the Times-Call recently, you might have noticed the life lesson he passed to his daughters: “No matter where you go, may you always be heard and understood. But more important — may you always seek to hear and understand.”

That stuck with me. And when Dr. Goodall passed, it echoed. “Only if we understand, can we care,” she once said. “Only if we care will we help.”

It all starts with understanding.

That’s more difficult than it sounds. It’s hard to get out of your own head. We know what we know. And when we go through life, we often do so like a Hollywood producer looking for sequels, wanting more of what we already like and agree with.

But you can’t learn if you can’t listen.

That’s vital to an actor on stage. Or a primatologist in the bush. Or a human in the world. It’s how we build stories and societies.

Be warned: This will leave you vulnerable. If understanding hearts start to care, caring hearts can be broken. Loss will come. Pain, too.

But it also means you’re not alone. With shared understanding can come shared strength and awareness. And together, we can do what none of us could apart.

So take a moment to listen. See the people around you. Try to understand and to learn.

That doesn’t just connect Tom and Jane. It connects all of us, if we’re willing to make the effort.

The lesson they taught lives on.

And so long as it does, the teachers do, too.