Be the Change

Three people were shot on my street last night.
Three more the night before on the other side of town.

Police are blaming it on gang violence.
Calling for a crack down on violence.
More police.
More guns.
More lockdown.

The response? We, the citizenry, pay greater taxes for someone else to run our neighborhoods for us. To maintain order. Educate our children. Keep the peace. Quarantine the bad. I strains me to think how far removed from our reality we have allowed ourselves to become.

Ghandi once said that,

The only devils in the world are those running in our own hearts. That is where the battle should be fought.

20 years ago a woman named Kitty Genovese gave us an example of how important each of can be in determining the outcome of our environment. How we cannot merely stand by and let less noble forces determine the fate of a city or a society. We are active agents in the system. Part and parcel of the problem... or solution. Stand up. Be counted.

It needn't ever take a bullet to get things started.