Tonight, I watched a film titled One Paper Clip at a Time. An award-winning documentary, it shows touching scenes of how a group of students led by their teachers and principle of Whitewell Middle School, Tennessee, taking on a journey of which they would never expected to become an incredible success. The journey was called The Paper Clips Project.
They had intended to do a group project focusing on the Holocaust. The purpose was to educate the 8th grade kids on the importance of diversity and tolerance. Hence, they began searching doing posters and class group discussions on it. One day, one of the students found that the Norwegians during World War 2 had used the paperclip as a symbol of defiance against the Nazis.
And thus began their journey of collecting 6 million paper clips to represent the loss of the people during one of twentieth century's greatest tragedies. It was amazing how they took upon themselves to bring forth to educate themselves considering they were from the south of the United States, typically white kids with very little interaction with other kids other races and cultures.
They had intended to do a group project focusing on the Holocaust. The purpose was to educate the 8th grade kids on the importance of diversity and tolerance. Hence, they began searching doing posters and class group discussions on it. One day, one of the students found that the Norwegians during World War 2 had used the paperclip as a symbol of defiance against the Nazis.
And thus began their journey of collecting 6 million paper clips to represent the loss of the people during one of twentieth century's greatest tragedies. It was amazing how they took upon themselves to bring forth to educate themselves considering they were from the south of the United States, typically white kids with very little interaction with other kids other races and cultures.
All in all, at the filming, they collected a total of 29 million paper clips from all over the world. Finally, they managed to get hold of a old German railway car (supposedly have carried prisoners during the war), refurbished it with the help of the town community and filled it with 11 million paper clips. Subsequently, a memorial was held and the students themselves starts to educate other students from the state who come over to Whitwell on field trips.
It was a 2-DVD set, and I took the opportunity to have open the 2nd one. This time, it showed them in New York at ground zero of the World Trade Center. There, one of the kids could not help but feel so sad that he wanted to be alone.
This documentary had opened my eyes that our adult prejudices and intolerance can indeed be overcomed through education of young. Only then, that could this world in the future avoid the constant wars, acts of terrorism and move society towards a more compassionate treatment of people who are different.
I could still remember the speech made by one of the Holocaust survivors. It was so heart-wrenching how he and his family was separated into the Left and Right lines. Only he and his brother survived by being on the Right, while his mother and other relatives move on to the gas chamber. Similar to what Viktor Frankl had described in his book, The Search For Meaning which I had posted here.
Definitely, a film worth watching.
Rating: *****/5 stars
It was a 2-DVD set, and I took the opportunity to have open the 2nd one. This time, it showed them in New York at ground zero of the World Trade Center. There, one of the kids could not help but feel so sad that he wanted to be alone.
This documentary had opened my eyes that our adult prejudices and intolerance can indeed be overcomed through education of young. Only then, that could this world in the future avoid the constant wars, acts of terrorism and move society towards a more compassionate treatment of people who are different.
I could still remember the speech made by one of the Holocaust survivors. It was so heart-wrenching how he and his family was separated into the Left and Right lines. Only he and his brother survived by being on the Right, while his mother and other relatives move on to the gas chamber. Similar to what Viktor Frankl had described in his book, The Search For Meaning which I had posted here.
Definitely, a film worth watching.
Rating: *****/5 stars
1 comment:
Good words.
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