Paper Clips
Yesterday I saw the movie Paper Clips. Going into the movie, I knew basic premises. The movie beings with a voice over reading a letter sent to the students at Whitwell Middle School (Go Tigers!) in Whitwell, TN. From the third sentence of the letter until the end of the movie I cried.
The movie is a document about a project the middle school students in Whitwell took part in. Whitwell is a small (abandon) coalmine town in TN. The population is 1600. Almost everyone is white protestant. There are 6 non-whites in the middle school. No Jews. No Catholics. The principal was concerned that her students were not being exposed to diversity issues. She sent the assistant principal to a conference to see if there was a project the school could do to address this concern. He came home thinking doing a study of the Holocaust would a good topic. They could study a culture they knew nothing about as well as study evil in the world and how to respond to it.
The Holocaust Project was born. It was an extra curricular activity. The students didn’t have to take part, but instead joined. The first year the teachers didn’t know much more than the student. They read as much as they could and shared their knew knowledge with the students.
One day in the second year of the project one of the students asked, in response to hearing 6 millions Jews were killed, “How many is 6 million. I have never seen 6 million of anything.” The teacher responded, “Well, I don’t know. I haven’t seen 6 million either.” He told the class if they could come up with something to collect, they could try and get 6 million of them to see.
After doing a little research, the students found the paper clip. The paper clip was invented in Norway. During the WWII Norwegians wore paper clips on their collars as a sign of protest against the Nazis and in support of the plight of the Jews. The rest of the movie is about the school journey to collect 6 million paper clips. Along the way they meet holocaust survivors and change many peoples lives in big and small ways. The movie is worth seeing. It shows so powerfully how we have so much more in common with our common man than we choose to realize on a daily basis. I know I am going to drive down to see the monument the built this summer.
On the drive home I found myself meditating on this message of how much we truly are one people and that we are responsible for each other. As the thoughts rolled around in my head I was able to finally crystallize something that has been weighing on my soul.
Over the last few weeks my heart has really ached in the selection of the new Pope. The ache has nothing to do with the passing of John Paul (which was sad) or over the selection of Benedict. I have come to realize that I have nothing thoughtful to say about the former pontiff or the selection of the new one. [Anything I say about Benedict is nothing more than parroting something I have heard someone say. The only thing I can say definitively is he looks good in white.] I am so far away for all of that. The pain I have felt has come from all the discussion about who has passed and who is to come next. There have been so many divisive conversations about beliefs and what MUST happen next.
In no way to I want to minimize the role of the Pope. The pontific of John Paul showed how powerfully the position can be used for good in the church and in the world. I also don’t want to minimize the theological discussion over the state of the church and how the new pontiff needs to respond to that. It is import to ask big questions about our belief system and how that is lived out in the world.
More than once in the last month have I been caught up in these conversations. With great energy on my part I might add. But for what good?
I recently heard an interview with a religious scholar who has studied and written on all the major religions of the world. When asked about her own beliefs she said something like, “The merit of any religion can be judged on it practical application of compassion in the world.” I like that a lot.
My soul is heavy because took a group of middle school kids with 26 million paper clips to point out that right now there is real suffering in the world. People are sick and dieing and disenfranchised and hungry and lonely. Not just people in the world, but people in my community. My faith life in some many ways has become an intellectual exercise, not a life style.
It brings me back to what my friend Jerry said while leading a retreat in December: It is easy to do what Jesus would do when you are not where Jesus would be.