An Inconvenient Truth

It would be strange (and maybe even funny) if I say that a documentary nearly brought tears to my eyes, and it wasn't even a documentary about war, or death or disease, but about a seemingly innocuous issue called global warming - but truth is, at the end of "An Inconvenient Truth", I realised that this was a documentary that was really good - factual, relevant and compelling. And yes, it nearly brought tears to my eyes.

This documentary directed by David Guggenheim tracks the battle to raise political will for global warming led by Al Gore. Much of the footage are on presentations done by Al Gore on global warming, a presentation he had probably done a thousand times in various cities around the world. It also tracks the other side to the issue of global warming, what Al Gore has done in politics on this issue, how he's come about this cause in his background, and his tribulations and frustrations with getting America, the #1 contributor to global warming in the world, and also one of the two advanced countries in the world who have not ratified the Kyoto convention. The other is Australia.

It's so hard, and increasingly so the older I get, for something that I watch or read or see on TV change my mind about something radically. I suppose to begin with I've got a hard cynical shell on. But An Inconvenient Truth has done just that for me. It took the issue of global warming from the realms of hippie and Greenpeace to relevant, every day life for me. As someone who's moved countries and continents for health reasons, it made me think of the day when everywhere may end up like the place I left behind. It became for me a real issue to think about some of my favourite cities in the world lost underwater - San Francisco, New York, the Netherlands… and my home country, Singapore, a mere island definitely one of the first to go.

So yes, it has become personal. I will walk or ride a bicycle. I'll turn the lights and heater on when I'm not using it. I'll recycle as much as possible. I'll take the low emissions free shuttle to work. I'll use energy saving appliances, light bulbs and plant more trees and green plants.

Although thinking about it, it wasn't even just that. What brought tears to my eyes was how this reminds me of who I am inside and what I feel for. It reminds me of Berkeley, and it reminds me of what the ring on my finger tries to remind me every day - that the purpose of my life is to make a difference. It is to know about, think about, and act about the things that matter to more than just the one person that I am. It is this distinguishing factor, and this one thing alone that makes me different and unique among the others who are different. It is what enuwy and Adam and Farzam see in their friends, and what Jeff saw when he met me on a plane and hired me as his employee, something whose impact I still feel to this very day.

Yet it feels like this is something that I've forgotten of late. And I am sorry for that.

At the end of the day, what makes me who I am is being an activist. Changing people's minds about what commonly held beliefs are. Thinking out of the box. Making a difference. This is what I took with me from Berkeley and what I promised myself to take for life.

Maybe I'm naïve, and take things at face value, but after this documentary, I am glad that I'm taking a free low-emissions shuttle to work. I don't think I'm going to get a car. I'm going to take trains, buses and other mass transit methods. J- likes to tell others how much I love public transport methods when I travel, here's why. This should be habit for me. We think, we choose and we act.

The other thing I've learnt from the documentary is how Al Gore thinks and acts and presents. I've finally come to the realization that what makes American presentations compelling and powerful is the ability to emotionize things. It takes facts and makes them relevant, personal, and emotionally compelling. This is a talent that exists in each and all of us, it is a trick of art - in drama, in literature, in modern day presentations. It's funny how there was a classmate of mine in a Peace and Conflict Studies class once described me as eloquent. Is this simply the catch of eloquence? Allowing people to bridge their thoughts on issues by making it easy to relate to issues in a personal way? What stirs people to move, to think, to see something differently and to act on their thoughts?

I definitely see this quality in Jeff, Breezy in some way, and in Al Gore in a big way. And I've realized that this is one secret thing that make people successful. It's right there, before my fingers - one only has to reach out and grasp it.