One Second...

Our experiences are shaped by little moments. Each one becomes a tile in a mosaic creating different views based on the distance of your perspective. I have been fortunate to participate in a number of big events in my life. While each has provided a vastly different experience, the common thread has been that in the midst of many over the top experiences the journey through each has been defined by the little moments.

A little context is in order... I begin sharing my thoughts, and observations from seat 23A on Frontier Airlines flight 110 from Denver to Minneapolis. This marks the end of a 9 day run working a film festival that premiered at the Democratic National Convention and now moves on to Minneapolis. The IMPACT Film festival, www.impactfilmfestival.org, was created to bring the most relevant social issue documentaries from the past year to the largest gatherings of lawmakers, decision makers and other movers. Each film is followed by a panel discussion intended to generate a dialog with the people who can make a difference. As a side note, in one of those cool moments I am actually carrying all eleven films from Denver to Minneapolis.

It has been a challenge for me to decide where to start. Do I start at the beginning when I continually harassed my good friend Laura Sullivan, who is producing the festival, to include me on the festival team, or do I start with an amazing cab ride with Higgy, and Ethiopian and naturalized citizen who drove me from the airport to the theater and then on to my hotel. Neither... let’s start by beginning with the title.

Over the last 10 days I have had the opportunity to watch films that make me think and feel, pulled off presenting a Nelly concert and sat in a stadium with 79,999 other people participating in a piece of our country’s history while feeling like I was watching a guy who can change the course of our history. Through it all I have been ensconsed in the Washington, D.C. culture that is at the same times both disturbing and disappointing. I do not want to get preachy or seem holier than thou yet the dichotomy between the way they treat people and the way I treat people, and more importantly teach Cooper how to treat people, is vast. To be fair, I have met some wonderful people involved in the Washington machine but I have also had more encounters than I care to relate that were simply marked by impatience and rudeness. I have been disappointed that the people who help shape our policy and decide how are money is spent are curt and rude, and impatient and filled with self-importance. It is a different way of doing business, not my way of doing business. It takes less then one second to say thank you. The value of that small slice of time, that small act of acknowledgment and the impact it has is far out of scale for the time it takes. Seriously... What is so hard about being nice to people?

Arriving in Denver I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Laura and I have been on dueling sabbaticals and when she told me about the festival I offered to help out in any way that I could. Actually, I had to ask her 3 times and there have been a number of moments when I wished I only asked her twice. My main roles have been coordinating transportation for both the filmmakers and the IMPACT crew and producing the Nelly concert, each of which provided their own unique challenges. Along the way I have seen movies that made me cry, made me think, made me mad and made me care. I was amongst the first to arrive at the scene of an accident and provided comfort to a guy with a grotesquely broken ankle who was on the verge of going into shock. I met Ashley Biden and hung with Nelly... at the same time. I have also had the opportunity to interact with people from across a wide spectrum of political thought and social and economic circumstances. I have been inspired and moved more times then I can count, slept too little and eaten too much food that I was unable to connect with its source. It has also been amongst the most valuable and stretching experiences of my life. I have been over-tired, under slept and overwhelmed, but I have always found time to say hello, hold a door and smile. Over the next week or so I will roll out some stories and moments in no particular order and I hope they make you laugh, roll your eyes and make you think. Remember... It takes less then one second to say thank you.