4/19/2012

"The Meaning of Suffering" - A Letter From Texas

"Howdy from Texas! We are currently working at a camp in Texas on the year-round retreat missionary team. Not surprisingly, we have been inspired by the documentary, The Human Experience, and one cold January day we were squeegeeing our dining hall floor, and started dreaming of a complimentary companion piece to this awe inspiring film. 

One of us -- from Stockton, California, and has recently returned from a year living with 150 deaf and disabled children in Northeast India and the other -- from Fort Wayne, Indiana, a recent college graduate who prayerfully discerned out of studying for her Masters in Human Rights and Genocide Studies at Kingston University, met November 2, 2011...and became an instant adventuresome duo. 

The Human Experience has inspired countless conversations between us about the meaning of suffering and the unmistakably necessary role it plays in our faith. That day in January, our conversation went one step further and we desired to understand the motivation to undergo suffering for another. We desire to explore the motivating power of love and ultimately, the meaning of love in action. Not our cultural understanding of gushy, spontaneous, feel good love, but "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." (John 15:13).  Our curiosity took us to question the motivation behind such acts of selfless, self-giving love as witnessed in instances such as the women living in IDP camps in Darfur who repeatedly disregard their own personal safety and womanhood in jeopardy to provide for their families, people who voluntarily put themselves in harms way to protect and save members of their communities; i.e. volunteer fire fighters, and conversely those who have experienced the opposite of love. "The opposite of love is not hate, it is use (JPII)." such as escapees of human trafficking rings in Italy or Cambodia. Finally, the healing power of love in cases where the suffering was inflicted rather than chosen, for example Immaculee Ilibagiza's loving choice to forgive those who confined her to a bathroom for 9 months and killed her family and friends. 
 
We appreciate the universality of The Human Experience and its ability to relate to all humans regardless of culture, faith, or social status while at the same time not ignoring, rejecting, or hiding its Catholic Identity. We would like to continue that universality in a continuation of The Human Experience through the eyes of two women exploring the Human Condition." 

-- K & K
Texas

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7/15/2011

Changing Perspectives - A Letter

Grassroots Films received an email today from a young woman who was in the midst of viewing The Human Experience. It inspired us, we hope it will inspire you too! Thank you, N.C. for a beautiful letter and may you find truth, beauty and love in all whom you meet.

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Hello,

I am sure you have received thousands of emails about many of your films and  the effect they've had on the viewer, and I am about to do the same.

I am not one to write in about a reaction to a film. I feel very differently about this film, however.

I am in the middle of watching The Human Experience. Never in my young life have I ever been so moved to tears (not like "oh this part is so touching- I need a Kleenex"); I'm talking about absolutely bawling my eyes out over what I'm watching -- and I'm only 30 minutes into the film.

I've never had a movie within the first half hour make me completely question how I live my life and what I take for granted. I've never been moved to actually change the way I live my life and how I see the lives of others.

Without continuing my rant any further since you've probably heard this thousands of times before, I wanted to thank the gentlemen who produced this film for a truly life-altering experience through a film alone, and how I know this will change how I will live my life from here out.

I tip my hat to those gentlemen for sharing their personal and worldly experiences with the world, and hopefully opening a few more eyes to not only other people's views of lives, but what they can do to change their perspectives and actions on such a valuable, delicate privilege that life is.


Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Best regards,
N.C.

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10/28/2009

"My Experience With The Human Experience"

Grassroots Films received another letter this week from the youth development center where The Human Experience was shown to a group of at-risk teenage boys. Many of the letters left a lasting impression, but this one in particular left an impact...


"My Experience With The Human Experience"

The Human Experience was a phenomenal movie, more so a documentary, made by a young man by the name of Jeffrey Azize. He, along with a few other friends went around the world to see life for what it really is.

To me the movie opened up my mind and heart to life. For the fact that I've always thought, 'I have the right to act the way I do, because no one knows what I've been through.' But after seeing what Jeff went through with the leper colony, and the South American kid named Victor - I noticed that they were far off worse than I am but continued to keep smile on their face. It was amazing how the leper colony was so joyful when they were cast-out by their families yet still welcomed others with open arms. Here I am thinking it's alright for me to be rude and disrespectful. Taking the abilities that I have and using them to break laws and get over on people. I feel as if I've been given a blessing but I'm taking it for granted. Especially when looking at a child like Victor who can only eat, write and walk with just one foot. Even at a young age, he doesn't allow his disabilities to become obstacles in his life.

...I don't know about other people, but I realized that I'm very fortunate and these things showed me how I take my mom and dad for granted. Seriously, I have a mother who cares, shows concern, and a father that wants to be involved... Makes me think that I'll be more appreciative of my mother and try to get to know my father before it's too late.

The Human Experience just really helped me open my eyes not only to life, but to people. So I can be more insightful, knowledgeable, grateful and appreciative for the things, people and abilities that I have. One more thing I got out of it is, that no matter how bad things are for me, there is someone worse off, and those are the ones for whom I pray for.

- Written by D.S., a juvenile at the Audubon Youth Development Center in Louisville, KY

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10/16/2009

Letters Worth Reading

In September, Grassroots Films traveled to Louisville, Kentucky, where the Audubon Youth Development Center and the Louisville Youth Detention Center hosted private screenings of The Human Experience for a group of young men, ages 13 to 18. The screenings were not only a cinematic dialogue, but a cathartic transmigration for both the audience and filmmakers alike.

Upon return to Brooklyn, the letters started pouring in. We were struck by the words of these young men. Their stories - intimate, realistic and filled with both suffering and forgiveness, reveal a desire to discover the meaning in their lives...



"The sense of us being human in the film was truly beautiful. For a long time I felt no compassion for anyone, being locked up. I have begun to feel compassion for other people. Your film just made that sense of love for the human race stronger. I used to be and I still remain an atheist. But I am today a more loving and caring person." -DLC



"I am still stunned that people would take time out of their lives just to learn how it is to live on the streets. But what I really learned from The Human Experience is that no matter who you are or what you have done, you can still make a change in someone's life." - CW

"We enjoyed The Human Experience. It made two of us cry. It takes a lot of courage to do the things that you put yourselves through for the truth in them situations." - JS, AS, & KB

"I want to say thank you: because the film made me realize even tho I ain't always had it good, there's people worse off than me. Cause I have always had my family, and even tho my dad is locked up, he lets me know he loves me, and not that many people have that. So now I ain't gonna take that for granted anymore... Thank you for the film. Really." - TH

"I want to say thanks for presenting the whole film to us teenage men and letting us see what's going on in the world... Everyone respects what y'all done and learned something new. Maybe someone will apply it sometime in their life and it will contribute to what y'all showed us."  -EA


"The movie was very heart-fulfilling and it made us think a lot about how we took certain things for granted... It opened our eyes to the fact that you should be thankful for what you have, instead of grieving over what other people have."




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