Making a Difference One Paperclip at a Time

Being a previous teacher, this documentary really struck home with me.  I just finished watching Paper Clips, a documentary produced by Bob and Harvey Weinstein.  It is the story of a rural town in Whitwell Tennessee, whose middle school decided to teach eighth graders about the Holocaust.   Two teachers at Whitwell Middle School headed up the project and never imagined the impact it would have for the students, community, and people from all over the world.  One day, a student innocently asked “How much is 6 million?” referring to the amount of people executed in the concentration camps.  Students then began to do a little research on what they could collect that would represent 6 million lives and came up with the paperclip – a national symbol used during the war to represent Norwegian intolerance of the German occupation.   The symbol spoke volumes when people could not freely state their views or opinions in fear of being executed. 

The school sent letters all over the world and collected thousands of stories of Holocaust victims and survivors.  In addition, they worked with a pair of German jounalists who helped them find a boxcar used back in the 40′s to transport Jews to the camps.  Together as a team, they build a wonderful memorial in honor of those who perished.

I love this story because it teaches young people intolerance and hatred still exist but knowledge and love mend can also prevent the atrocities from occurring.   It is yet another reminder as well one person or a small group of people can make a difference. 

And, in case you were wondering, in five years they collected over 30 MILLION paper clips.  Simply amazing.

Too Tired To Make a Difference?

Check out this article I found on MSN.Com tonight:  Disaster Fatigue

With the recent disasters in China and Myanmar, the article suggests Americans are overwhelmed and therefore, not reaching out to help others in need.   Here was one person’s response as to why he hasn’t contributed money towards relief:

 ”If you thought about at this very second the number of people who were suffering and dying, I could dedicate all my resources to that and yet it would be a drop in the bucket,” he says.

This is an acceptable reason to not contribute at all?  I say just a drop in the bucket could quench someone else’s thirst.

In the case of Myanmar, it is a rural area and the government has not been exactly cooperative in accepting supplies with Western countries, particularly the U.S.  (go figure: another country not a fan of the Bush Administration).   There also has not been a lot of media coverage or images from the aftermath.  But does this excuse us from looking the other way?  All because we cannot make a “personal connection” or see some pictures of the devastation?   Why on earth would one even want to see those pictures? 

I prefer to take the optimistic view and think those that can help, will.  If you would like a place to start making a difference, check out this website:  Save The Children.   I’ve used it to give gifts in other people’s names and most importantly, it is easy to use. 

Please do your part to put a drop in the bucket.  I know I will.  

Not On Our Watch

  I just started reading a book called “Not On Our Watch” written by Don Cheadle and John Prendergast about the genocide currently going on in Darfur.  I am not too far into the book but in reading the first couple chapters and looking at www.savedarfur.org, I’ve learned the genocide has been ongoing since 2003 and has now killed an estimated 400,000 people and displaced about 2.5 million more.  Almost five years later, our leaders are still at odds as to who is going to step up and stop the violence.  With all the media coverage on the war in Iraq, Darfur is barely a blip on the radar screen.   This is what UN secretary General Ban Ki Moon had to say about the dire situation in Sudan just this week:

“The parties appear determined to pursue a military solution; the political process [is] stalled; the deployment of UNAMID is progressing very slowly and continues to face many challenges; and the humanitarian situation is not improving.” In fact, the report notes that 60,000 additional people were displaced in the first three months of the year. It also details continuing rapes of women and girls and difficulty in getting humanitarian aid to large parts of Western Darfur.”

I am the first one to step up and say I get so wrapped up in my own “issues” I don’t really stop to think how lucky I truly am.  I have a job to go to everyday that pays enough to pay the bills.  I have a brand new home to come home to at the end of each day.  I have food in the fridge (I have a fridge) and I have clean water to drink anytime I want it.  Even my cats and bunny have access to filtered water.  It is unfathomable to think in the 21st century not all of us have these simple luxuries and opportunities.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this today; how we Americans take things for granted.  With recent Earth Day and the influence of the book I’m reading, I began to feel I needed to do something, if only something small.  So tonight I donated money on the Save Darfur website.  After a “stressful” day, I found it to be a great release to help someone, somewhere, in a worse situation than I’ll ever be in.   

Please take some time to visit the website, read the blog, and make a small donation if you can.  It will definitely put a smile on your face and barely a dent in the pocketbook.  And, if all this doesn’t convince you, I’ll leave you with the forward of the book written by Professor Elie Wiesel, author of “Night” and Holocaust survivor:

“I am a Jew who remembers when my people in German-occupied Europe were condemned to isolation, hunger, humiliation, unspeakable terror, and death.  Until almost the end of the war, no one came to our rescue. 

I am writing this now because in Darfur, Sudan, families are being uprooted and starved, children tormented and murdered by the thousands, and women raped with impunity.  The world knows non-Arab peoples in Darfur are dying by the thousands, yet, in the eyes of the victims, the world remains indifferent to their plight. 

Darfur is today’s capital of human suffering.  Darfur deserves to live, and American citizens are providing it with reason to hope…our failure to speak out to end the genocide in Darfur would place us in the wrong side of history.  And that thought must be intolerable to all of us.”

Also from Elie, here is a favorite quote of mine: “The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference.”