Audio Attitude +

Al Gore’s attitude finally fits.

As Vice President his attitude was all about acting a role that would support his boss Bill Clinton. But being Vice President was never Mr. Gore’s mission. As his party’s nominee for President his attitude was focused on serving the party. But being the party nominee for President was not Al’s mission. His attitude of humility and dignity served his divided country after the Supreme Court ruled George W. Bush would become the next President. But being an honorable loser was not Al’s mission. The reason why Mr. Gore’s attitude during the campaign eight years ago was so often stiff, awkward, and mechanical is he was trying to play a part in someone else’s mission.

Mr. Gore finally found passion when he decided to focus on his own mission to save the planet. He designated himself as P.R. guy for the planet and suddenly his attitude looked good on him. In the first high-profile role in which he played himself, Al Gore has become a global star.

Real passion needs a personal mission. Without mission our attitude serves situations out of convenience. Committing to our mission is always inconvenient but it is required if we hope to discover our potential.

Recent talk of Mr. Gore somehow solving the Democratic presidential primary dilemma is nonsense. Mr. Gore’s mission is bigger than President of the United States. This time, he intends to save the world and he believes he can.

Conceivably Mr. Gore could play a role in this situation and become the nominee again. But he would lose because becoming President is not his mission. That Al is bigger than the Democratic Party may be an inconvenient truth for some Democrats. Perhaps they could learn from Al. What if they chose, inconveniently of course, to focus on a mission instead of trying on various attitudes to fit all these situations? I cannot cast blame. I have my own mission to face.

Meanwhile, here is Leslie Stahl’s 60 Minutes interview (just over 13 minutes) where you might enjoy a clip of Mr. Gore in his best role ever - the role of being Al Gore.

Do you remember in PSYCH 101 reading about the “Three Mountain Task?” The child psychology experiment that Jean Piaget conducted back in the 1940’s was an early study of how humans develop cognition. Essentially, Piaget showed young children a 3-D model of a landscape with three mountains. On the other side he placed a doll. He even brought the children over to the other side to look at the mountains from the doll’s perspective.

Piaget then returned the child to their seat and showed them several drawings - each representing a different view of the mountains. He then a asked the children to tell him which drawing was most like what they were seeing from their position. They correctly chose the drawing that matched the view from their own position. But when he asked them to choose which drawing represented what the doll might see from where the doll sat, the younger children insisted the doll’s view was the same view as their own. Piaget called this “egocentrism.”

Is this our problem in America with regard to huge issues like race? Are we so focused on our own perspectives that we can’t imagine someone’s reality that might be different than our own - even from the other side of the mountains? People indignant in their passionate belief of only one view of the mountains is a problem. These are not small children whose cognitive perspective has yet to grow. These are adults who vote.

(Image courtesy McGraw-Hill)