Poland, The March, and the World

And to be clear... the purpose of this trip:

Over the last year, we have developed an outstanding relationship with March of the Living International. We are thrilled to be partnering with them in filling a major void in their program. We will serve as the official process that every marcher, this year and in the future, will go through as a first step in translating the power of their experience into action in their lives. 

Since the need for that missing piece of follow up in our own experience is largely what has motivated us over the last three years, we're giving back where it all began, taking the already-transformative experience of MOTL even further in its personal impact for people and getting MOTL started with its first-ever, much needed alumni follow-up program. 

Jeff and I will be here in Poland for the next few days to officially bring P6M to the 2014 March while Brandon covers ground support from the states. While we're here, we'll meet with as many international delegations as we can in three days, and then Jeff will speak at the Yom Hashoah ceremony in Birkenau! Yes- survivors, international dignitaries and performers... and us!!!  

He'll bring a call to action to the 13,000 people assembled there, invite them to join our movement and hand out the bracelets you see pasted below.  You can watch it live through the March of the Living website! We'll also be blogging from Poland, so check that out on the P6M website (new site launching tonight).

And, this is all because...

As P6M has taken a few turns, we're excited to be relaunching with clear, new direction which will bring tremendous impact. 

We've learned that approximately 23 million people per year experience some form of Holocaust or genocide awareness/education. We know they have that critical eye-opening moment - that shift in the way they see the world, just like we did. There is currently no process to convert those individual realizations into ongoing voice, awareness and positive action in the world or way for them to connect with one another. They have the same goals and intentions, but without any coordination or direct link to one another. Furthermore, in the days, weeks, months and years following the experience, the passion and emotion that were born in those moments are lost. 

We have created a process to solve this problem. Our objective is to provide a unique but shared post-experience process for all of those people. We make it easy for them to capture that moment with a statement, we share it out for them and connect them to other upstanders, and then we send their statement back to them in intervals - in a week, a month, six months, one year etc. In this way, we are creating one more Holocaust awareness moment than they would have had otherwise, which we believe is extremely significant in ensuring that Holocaust remembrance never dissipates.

We're extending the impact of their initial awareness and connecting them to one another in shared commitment to acting on it. We've created a bridge from that moment of intense emotion to an empowering way to communicate, take action, connect and make it multiply in their lives long after the moment. As a result, we will all be connected in advancing Holocaust awareness and improving the world.

Difference

I'm always amazed by how little of a difference it takes to create sharp, life-changing contrast. 

I travel a lot, but this trip is different than any other.

This trip's distinct because I'm here to facilitate a process of remembrance and represent a movement of active awareness that will shape futures. 

We came to Poland once before, but this time is different. 

The last time we came to Poland we were here to immerse ourselves in the darkness of the Holocaust's history here. This time we're here to bring some light to its lessons. 

People look sort of similar, but they are different. 

As we walked down the street in bustling downtown Warsaw today, blending in like the thousands of other people taking in a beautiful day, I was struck by how the invisible difference of our religion from many of them would have gotten us executed on that very street not so long ago. 

Subtle distinctions between things. Or the change we bring to things. 

This place, this mission and this project to me is so much about those differences.

The grisly difference between a giant concentration camp pumping out crematorium smoke from humans being killed too fast for burial to be efficient and the homes, schools, town full of people living a normal life, yards away.  

The difference of being shot on the spot or living on from the simple call of an SS officer to say turn right instead of left. 

The difference between the tourists sipping their coffee on the patios of the hip clubs and shops outside my hotel window and the 10,000 kids who are spending moments right now and over the next several days witnessing the scratch marks and remains of the concentration camps, eerily fresh and intact. 

The difference between having a moment of realization but letting it dissipate, or converting it into change or impact. 

The difference between having a great idea and actually creating and developing something out of it. 

The difference between intellectually understanding an issue and being struck in the heart and gut by it in a way that alters you. 

In these next few days 10,000 teens and another 3,000 adults from all over the world will be struck as in that way, transformed forever about how they understand humanity... within miles of the people who will keep sipping their coffee on the shop patios right here.  

We are here with Project6Million to bring a process to capture those moments, and turn them into connection, voice and action to make a difference for each of those people. We know that the the power of that ah-ha moment is immense, and harnessed for each yet all of us as awareness and commitment to what's possible can shape the future. 

So I'll do what I do best- keep asking the questions and bringing the process to notice those differences, turning them into commitment and action toward what's possible... in this place, in our lives, and in humanity. 

What an honor.  

Almost exactly 3 years ago I was doing almost the exact thing that I am doing now: traveling to Poland for the March of the Living. When I came the first time I had little to no idea what to expect from my journey aside from an itinerary, a group, and the knowledge and excitement that I would be in Israel just a few days later.

 

When I left Poland the last time I was changed. I certainly never expected to return. Yet here I am, a slightly older and hopefully more mature version of the eighteen year old that I was then, returning to a place that has weighed upon me, and all who experience it, to this day. 

This trip, however, is different. I am with  no delegation and will not have the magical experience of Israel to offset some of the associated traumas from witnessing the destruction of the Holocaust. At the end of this trip, I'll return to Boulder, Colorado to finish my semester with haste. 

Nevertheless, I am here.

 I cannot say honestly that I know what to expect from this trip, but I know that now I am here with a purpose. When the 2011 Cincinnati (Fluvinati) delegation flew home we had an idea of how to use our experience to change the world. Now I am going to the March to bring that idea, Project6Million, to 13,000 people. 

I realize now that, although I never expected to return to Poland, I need to. While I feel that no Jew, or perhaps no human being, will ever be able to fully reconcile the events of the holocaust, I believe that my coming on this trip is a step in the right direction personally and for all of those that hear the Project6Million message. 

I'll finish this up, as the plane to Warsaw will be landing momentarily. When I step off of the plane this time, I will do so with a purpose. 

Welcome to the Project6Million Blog!
We'll share our journey here as we relaunch P6M, bringing it to Poland, to 10,000 youth at March of the Living next week, and the world!
We're excited to have you with us.