Help My Awesome Professor Friend Amanda

Note: This is a personal request, and not necessarily about Heart of Business. And yet, at the same time, our businesses are deeply woven into the communities from which they are born. Heart of Business rests deeply into the friends, family and community that surround my wife and I. I wanted to use the Heart of Business reach to support this very close friend of ours and the amazing work she is doing.

My friend Amanda is a professor at Portland State University and teaches some amazing things about “enmification” — which is how we make enemies… and how not to do that.

She’s had a dream for years of participating in a compassionate listening reconciliation between Germans and Jews- like myself, she was raised Jewish.

She also had pretty strong heart-guidance that she wasn’t supposed to go into debt to finance the trip, which will cost at least a couple thousand dollars, including airfare and etc.

My Testimonial

Amanda and her whole family are close to our family- we’re “smooshta” family. 🙂 My wife and I were at the birth of her son, and we live about 10 blocks from each other and frequently share meals and other family events. I say this to reveal that this is not an unbiased testimonial.

At the same time, Amanda is a powerhouse in her own right. She has been doing serious work in the field of community building, community organizating, conflict resolution, and what she calls “enmification.” She’s a professor, a spiritual teacher, a community organizer, and a musician.

And she has the opportunity to go to Germany very soon to participate in this reconcialiation program.

In Her Own Words

Dear Friends and Family:

As many of you know, I have been very interested in engaging in some kind of a reconciliation dialogue between Germany/Germans and Jews/Descendants of Holocaust Survivors for the past twelve years. In the last year I learned about a couple of different organizations that facilitate dialogue between Germans and Jews, and I have newly decided to travel to Germany this summer to participate in a process for Jews and Germans to transform our legacy of conflict.

I am sending this letter out for multiple purposes. First, I want everyone to know that I am doing this, and to also to let you know why I am doing this. The pain of the Holocaust has touched me deeply, and taking action toward healing is momentous for me. I hope to engender your support and prayers for my journey (physical, emotional and spiritual), and anticipate that I will take comfort in knowing you are sending encouragement in my direction.

Second, I am fundraising the expense of this adventure. When I first imagined engaging in a dialogue process a dozen years ago, I imagined that “Germany” would pay for this process as a form of restitution. While I am still receptive to that possibility, should it materialize, I have realized that by inviting my friends and family into that supportive role, I can find even more valuable support to go through this healing process with strength and certainty. I have set up a PayPal donation link on my website to simplify the process of contributing.

To donate financial support of any amount toward the cost of this adventure, please go to my website and click on the PayPal donate button at: http://web.pdx.edu/~abyron. Even a small donation has profound meaning to me.

The organization that I have decided to work with emphasizes the Jewish concept of Teshuvah, which speaks to the transformation that happens when we are able to “return,” or atone, in an effort to heal our wounding. The dialogue process creates a safe space for participants to tell their stories, to learn from one another, and to make amends for the tragedies of the Holocaust. More information about the process and the hosting organization is available at http://www.one-by-one.org/

In teaching about Conflict Resolution, I continue to tell the story of my mother’s exodus from Germany during World War II, and her family’s (successful) struggle to start over in a new land. The part of the story that has been most profound for me is the lack of justice available to them as Jews in Germany. This personal interest I have in issues of social justice has inspired a life-long professional emphasis on individual and collective responses to violence, with particular attention to responses that can address the direct and intergenerational trauma resulting from genocide. Dialogue is one of those responses.

I am not sure what all will come from this process, but I expect some creative expression to emerge during and after this experience. I intend to document the process through writing, art, music, and/or photography. And I look forward to sharing my experiences with you after I return. I will be available to share my stories, either informally or as part of a more structured presentation on reconciliation and healing.

Thank you all for considering my request!

The Donation Button

In case you missed it up above, here is a direct link to her PayPal donation button:

Donate to Reconciliation

(Some folks have told me they have trouble with this link. For an alternative, go directly to Amanda’s page, and look for the “Donate” link in the upper right.

Five bucks, ten bucks, twenty bucks, fifty bucks. If this speaks to you, and your heart says “yes” then please do give a little to her. It will mean she gets to do this really important work, and it won’t be a financial burden on her family. As you can imagine, university professors just don’t make that much money. Plus, it’s part of the healing to have her lifted there by many hands.