Soft Launch
I had kept PROJECT: FORWARD simmering in my mind for almost a year.
Its origin point was really a disturbing comment made by none other than Stephen Miller who clearly defined the ideological drive of the current administration with regards to the American children.
“We're going to make them love America!”
This very direct mission statement led me to re-evaluate my understanding of the educational system in this country as well as worldwide.
When education becomes hijacked by ideology only bad things happen. I was less concerned with the ideology itself, and much more worried about an aspect we all seem to ignore – time, specifically generational transfer of knowledge.
If a society were to encounter such a moment in history when the transfer of knowledge and wisdom falters and fails, the result – over time – would be a generation that lacks a moral anchor and a historical reference system.
Such a generation will not only continue to lack access to the mechanisms of power but also would eventually forget such access is in fact normal and necessary for a functioning and progressive civilization.
As the world population is exposed to stress factors ranging from wars, hunger, poverty, ideological turnovers, and deepening cultural and economic divisions, people end up in survival mode.
Add to it an ancestral need to gather, save, and insatiably consume, and an entire world ends up living in a rush, outcompeting itself, less and less compassionate, and ultimately consumed by consumerism.
As the world's noise increases, it drowns individual voices, dampens dreams, and distracts us all from the things that make us human and from what really matters in life.
The end result of a successful indoctrination is a lack of imagination outside the boundaries of its ideological parameters.
We forget to dream of a better world because we are too consumed by struggling to keep up and to belong to the one keeping us prisoners.
If an ideological war on human spirit was to be entirely successful, we would not only forget to dream, but also forever that we could dream.
This is perfectly illustrated by an image we all recognize:
However, for those few who do not fall in line, life becomes more similar to this next illustration:
And of course, society instantly and sometimes permanently labels these individuals as rebels, anarchists, and in extreme cases terrorists.
The goal is to portray any attempt to challenge the status quo as an anomaly requiring correction or punishment.
PROJECT: FORWARD intends to re-normalize dreaming of a different and better future, and to remind everyone that envisioning ways to improve human life is a normal and healthy creative process that needs to be nurtured and validated.
More so, we need to re-imagine society and human civilization from an entirely different perspective than a chase for profit. To do so, we must redefine terms like “success”, “citizenship”, and even “culture”.
To that avail, PROJECT: FORWARD takes two powerful approaches:
Producing a documentary series with young thinkers and dreamers from all of 195 UN-recognized countries in the world.
Creating an independent platform for these young and emerging thinkers to connect and collaborate, and to function as a beacon of hope and inspiration to others alike.
Week 1 of PROJECT: FORWARD was the first time I brought the project to light and out in the open.
The first person to learn about it was my soon to be 15-year-old son. We had a brief conversation about it and I was “scanning” to see his reaction and how he felt about it.
Next, was my daughter, a writer and thinker in her own right, and then the project was revealed to a small group of friends and people who have known me for a while, including of course, my wife.
It was important for me to receive feedback about the concept itself. I knew that as time goes on and as I show this project to more and more people, I would need to fine tune how I describe it, and be very specific about its goals and expectations.
The world thinks in these parameters, even if I do not.
For me, humans have a tremendous potential and a truly wonderful capacity to connect and create. What to many seems like a normal and accepted present reality, for me it is only a phase in humanity's timeline as it grows up and matures.
Just as all children in the world look up to their grown-ups and learn from example, I intended PROJECT: FORWARD to guide young generations of global citizens in collectively dreaming forward, to new destinations, and new possibilities.
Our past should be our springboard, not our prison, and the future can only belong equally to every human being.
So what exactly am I selling?
I remember when I was first introducing the concept for "Living Aikido Life" documentary, and one of the instant reactions from a Dojo owner was this straight up question: what am I selling?
While in the moment my blood rushed to my face, I later sat with that question and understood that many people are pre-programmed to respond in a transactional mode, even when it comes to art, social projects, etc. I think some people simply expect a transaction to happen.
For me, this was a cold shower at that moment, but only because my own expectations were based on my vision - the documentary itself was about human connection. So my own ways of seeing the matter eventually got in the way. Taking a step back, I realized that even a good deed is a transaction in some way. Commerce is really not my forte, but I recognize the nature of human relationships - which can be and often is, transactional.
So what exactly am I selling with PROJECT: FORWARD?
In short, I would say that I am "selling" a DREAM, but "selling" sound and feels awful to me, while dreams is something few people should ever "buy". However, I needed to put this here, to state it, to expose it.
I am not selling anything. I am inviting you to an experience. This experience might lead to one outcome or another, but it is the experience that matter.
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