I learned about this touching film through the Quote-A-Day service at http://qad.charityfocus.org/ I don’t work for them or anything, I just think the provide a great service. Anyway, I loved the movie and was amazed by the dedication of the teachers on the project to move it forward, yet for all their dedication it was ultimately the students’ project – their idea, and their hard work. It’s hard to accomplish that as a teacher, so well done to them.

Tonight I received some personal news that although not devastating, it did make my lower lip pop in and out AND it made me call my mother. I was feeling sorry for myself, and decided to sit down and watch this video that I had downloaded from the library. Less than one minute later I became painfully aware of the minuteness of my woes, and another minute later I felt uplifted by this amazing story.

This is the story of a small town class project focused towards teaching tolerance. The kids were learning about the holocaust victims but couldn’t grasp the enormity of six million people. In doing some research, they discovered that during WWII many people in Norway wore paper clips on their lapels as a symbolic protest against the Nazis.

The kids decide to collect six million paperclips to represent those killed in the holocaust. And so begins the Paper Clips Project. They receive letters and paperclips from famous actors, politicians, German school kids, and families of survivors. They get to meet survivors and hear their stories.

There is more to the story, but I don’t want to “spoil” it for you. Its a powerful documentary, one that I think is a must see.