I Am (Blog #3)

Earlier this week I watched a documentary called “I Am,” by Tom Shadyac, a renowned director who’s done The Nutty Professor, Ace Ventura, and Bruce Almighty to name a few. This documentary was interesting because it addressed the questions of: What’s wrong with this world and what can we do about it? Tom Shadyac experienced an accident that caused him to get Post Concussion Syndrome. Symptoms of PC patients don’t go away for months, years or in some cases forever. It typically leads to depression, and sometimes suicide. Many NFL players are victims of PC and there have been cases where they have committed suicide. In Tom’s case, he experienced intense sensitivity to light and sounds, mood swings and a constant ringing that wouldn’t go away. His acceptance to death allowed him to question what’s wrong with this world and what can we do about it.

This documentary proved very sincere, sympathetic, and confusing. I was looking for answers, but then again I learned that there is no one answer. Earlier this week, someone in one my classes mentioned that the only way to eat an elephant is to take a piece at a time. As a prospective social worker, this can be hard because you see problems and so many issues, one “piece” doesn’t change anything. Yet, tiny steps do make an evolutionary change. One of my favorite lines in the documentary was when a philosopher said, “A sea is only many drops of water that have come together.” To think of the strength and influence the sea has done environmentally, physically, culturally, you name it...it symbolizes power. That’s one of the visions many fail to see; the future-outcomes of one tiny step. They say that sympathy is the strongest instinct in human nature, and we can all relate to this when we think of every time something tragic happens. We can feel others’ pain, or their happiness. We’re made to have compassionate response to the trouble of others.

Tom Shadyac mentioned that his documentary would be about mental illness, and I was confused because at first I didn’t see anything about an illness. Yet, he was talking about greed, and the way our society has been socialized to see wealth and happiness as synonyms. People have the belief that the more money you get, the more happy you’ll be. Tom Shadyac experienced wealth, and he realized he wasn’t happy. The mental illness of being rich, and taking more than what the body needs--he called it cancer. So how do we change this? For one, taking tiny steps of compassion and love, even for our enemies. We ultimately have to be passionate and inspired to change, and change happens because you are concerned. For organizations and communities, this is much easier said than done; typically. But I learned that it takes an individual drop to start a wave, and even if that comes in the form of a positive attitude, it’s contagious. This documentary didn’t answer how to solve the problems of life, it created a perspective in which to view our life. A perspective that can trigger an individual to make change.

For more information on the documentary, you can go here. You can also watch the documentary on Netflix.

Observation: I offered my leftovers to a homeless guy; he said no because he didn't have teeth and wouldn't be able to chew it.