Our Last Evening Together
As we gathered on our final evening together in Poland in a the
Wielicza Salt Mine – somewhat of an iconoclastic setting to all that we had
been experiencing over the previous 10 days -- we continued to talk amongst
ourselves to understand what each of us had experienced both individually and
as a group. We discussed what these experiences would mean for us once we were
home, in our routines and how those routines might be interrupted/adapted to
accommodate that learning, and most importantly the shifts that our own
personal narratives had taken.
Marc asked those of us who wanted to share our reflections with the
group and as so many of us did, heads around the room nodded in agreement and understanding. The thoughts below capture just some of our
emotional and intellectual experiences.
“How often as adults do we get to
work and learn together in such a substantive, deep and change provoking way.”
“I am personally grateful for the
people that I was able to travel with on this journey and their care for me we traveled together.”
“The stories we have seen are
beyond imagination and we all have known them in abstraction. This trip brought the abstract to reality and
so much for the better.
“There is so much time needed to
process all that we have seen and learned and to understand how our own
thoughts and beliefs have changed.”
“This was such a highly personal
trip for me. I was fearful of the
challenge, but the group’s support helped me so much. I feel as if I am taking the memories of
those who died, home with me.”
“This experience will make us
better ambassadors for the work of the organization – helping people to explore
their own identities and the lessons of history.”
“Their memory could so easily be
forgotten. It makes me want to go back
and fight for their memory.”
“I can’t imagine learning more in
a week.”
“I am trying to figure out all
that we have absorbed and how to be respectful of that new knowledge.”
“I am re-finding my own identity
and challenging everything that I had thought about Poland by and large. I am now a proud Polish Jew.”
“I wonder about what the work
left to do is.”
And, finally and perhaps most importantly… “This deep experience is the beginning of something.”
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