LITMIR.BIZ

      It may seem impossible to reach and transform every troubled person out there. And shifting the ideologies adopted by those surrounded by leaders and caregivers who advocate violence and oppression may appear unreal. But what type of world do we want future generations to discover? Let’s focus on the possibilities rather than the obstacles. Every person helps to shape the world. We must strive to become more conscious of our thoughts and behaviour, take responsibility for our actions, and be positive examples within our own families and communities. In addition, we must make an effort to create and spread information on methods for healing and peace. We owe it to ourselves.

There are already numerous initiatives in place to help create such a global movement. Founded in 2002, Kids4Peace, an initiative of St. George’s College Jerusalem with the cooperation of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, brings together Jewish, Muslim, and Christian faith leaders and children through programs aimed at building bridges and promoting cooperation and respect between people of the three faiths.12

The Motivating the Teen Spirit organization, based in the U.S., runs programs that empower youth of various backgrounds to love themselves, communicate more effectively, and make integrity-based decisions. Since renowned author, motivational speaker, life coach, and teacher Lisa Nichols launched the program in May 2000, it has served over 35,000 teens, assisted in preventing over 800 suicides, encouraged over 575 drop outs to return to school, and helped thousands of teens reconnect with families.13

      Finally, Erin Gruwell has devised initiatives that have been helping to alter the face of education. When Gruwell became a teacher at Wilson High School in Long Beach, California, during the 1990s, she found herself facing students who struggled with feelings of anger and confusion, having dealt with abuse, homelessness, juvenile detention, or gang involvement. To better connect with them, she revised her teaching style, assigning them books on topics such as the Holocaust and racial discrimination—over time empowering them through characters to whom they could relate. The students penned diaries reflecting on the issues the characters faced as well as the issues in their own lives. They also participated in activities and field trips aimed at helping them learn respect and tolerance for one another.

      Gruwell’s teaching methods inspired and motivated the students. In 1998, 97 percent of her students graduated (150 teens). Coining a reference from a period during the civil rights movement, the students called themselves the Freedom Writers (named after the Freedom Riders of the 1960s). That name was also used for a book featuring their diary entries and experiences.

Gruwell and those students have since shared their stories with educators and youth across North America, promoting the Freedom Writers Method through the Freedom Writers Foundation in Long Beach.14 Their story was also brought to life in the 2007 film Freedom Writers.

I, too, had the opportunity to discover the power of the written word in helping people express themselves, become empowered, and even heal. In 2005 I coordinated the 6th Annual Creative Writing Contest for the Homeless through Toronto-based humanitarian organization Ve’ahavta.15 The contest allows the homeless participants to gain a voice in the community and to be recognized as more than mere statistics. It also helps people better understand homelessness and the experiences these people face.

      Some of the participants told me how the contest assisted in motivating them to believe in themselves and take steps in positive directions. One of the winners decided to hold on to his money so he could pay his ex-wife for rent and buy food. He also checked into a recovery house for a 28-day alcohol and drug treatment program. The grand prize winner, Theresa Schrader, had stayed at various homeless shelters, battled a drug addiction, and in her contest piece wrote about her previous experiences working as a prostitute. In 2011 she graduated with top honours in the Social Service Worker Program at George Brown College. Now she is successfully employed full-time running a program she designed to help individuals who have been homeless and marginalized pursue post-secondary education.

      I also enjoy expressing myself through the arts and have been singing and penning poetry, songs, and short stories since I was nine years old. However, the Ve’ahavta contest allowed me to gain deeper insight into how transformational the arts really can be, and that led me to explore the field of expressive arts therapy.

      I got the idea to produce this Holocaust anthology in the summer of 2008, after I met featured survivor George Scott, who has written numerous poems but had not previously had any published. While I felt that it was essential to provide the Holocaust survivors the chance to be heard and share their writings with others, I also hoped that they would possibly achieve some level of release and healing through the creative process. Many survivors have great difficulty talking about their experiences, let alone digging up memories they have tried to bury. I am glad that the contributors have been able to express themselves through writing.

      Survivor Ruth Barnett explained to me how important creative writing has been for her from an early age. Her experiences during the war, including fleeing from Germany to England on a children’s transport with her older brother and living with foster families and at a hostel, convinced her that she was “bad and unlovable for anyone to cope with for very long.” But she found that she could delight her schoolteachers with her writings and paintings, and these activities made her feel as though she “could achieve something worthwhile at the same time as expressing [her] turbulent feelings (which nobody had explained to [her]) and lifting [her] mood.” Having later worked as a psychotherapist, she said she realized that “some traumatized people can better use art and writing to process their feelings.”

      Barnett wrote her poem “Mother” when she was 16 years old. She explained that the poem embodies her emotional struggle to come to terms with her mother: “I was totally unable to relate to my parents, who were complete strangers to me after 10 years of separation.”