journal.melendez.org

As a person who works primarily in the non-profit world, I think it gets easy to be swallowed up by the politics and the bureaucracy of it all. Sometimes, I need something to help remind me why I’m working so hard and why it still matters.

Tonight, Cassie and I got a reminder. We saw a screening of the film “Nobelity” at the stunning Paramount Theatre in downtown Austin.

“Nobelity” is the story of filmmaker Turk Pipkin’s journey to draw something coherent out of the bewildering jumble of our planet: to grasp the “big picture” of things and understand what each of us can do to address the most pressing problems of the world. His interest in these issues is hardly theoretical. His responsibility to his own daughters is the impetus, but his thinking draws us to wonder just what world we are leaving to our children and grandchildren.

His travels take him to interview nine Nobel Prize winners in peace, economics and the sciences. His conversations with each subject are powerful and thought provoking. The places in the US, Europe, Africa and India he visits also provide an amazing (and especially in the case of Calcutta, India, heartbreaking) backdrop to the discussions.

The movie was an energizing call to action to change the world. If you get a chance to see it, you won’t be disappointed. You can see the trailer here.

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