Discovering what you are capable of contributing to
the wellbeing of a community should be the goal of all concerned
residents. Regardless if you are rich
and doing “well,” middle income, doing “OK”
or poor and “just trying to make it,”
all people have an opportunity to help make their community a better place to
live, work and play. All it takes is
some time and lending a helping hand.
Every day the beat goes on in which numerous urban
communities are under siege and residents simply feel powerless to change
things. Each day, the numbers of
reported incidents of domestic abuse, gun violence, drug addiction, and mental
illness continue to rise. With each
episode, residents try to understand what just happen and what can
be done to prevent something like that from occurring in the future. And when you factor in the number of people
who are struggling with chronic unemployment, homelessness, low wage jobs, no
medical care and transportation, the barometer of what is affecting residents
in a particular community is off the scale.
In the search for answers, people quickly point to a
number of reasons as the root cause for the break down in human behavior,
social justice, family life, education, citizenship, and even common sense. Even though most people are willing to accept
some reasoning and that there is some truth in what another person has just
said, it does not change their opinion in any significant manner. Urban America needs help
in so many ways and that is the whole truth…and
nothing but…the truth. Just pick an
issue and dive right in… you can make a
difference…trust me.
In spite
of its growing complexity of problems, Urban America is also a working canvas
full of great hopes and promises. There
is a lot of untapped human potential… I
see it every day. You see it when children are playing on the
play grounds and in the streets. It is
happening when neighbors are engaged in organizing block parties, health fairs,
gardens, and community clean up days. You feel and hear it when residents, community
organizers, church leaders, elected officials, law enforcement, leaders of
agencies come together to discuss challenges, to brainstorm, and to work
together in an effort to find solutions. Edmund Burke, a noted 18th century philosopher
once stated… “The only thing necessary
for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
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