What do efforts to deal with global warming, the
displacement of refugees, and the fight against terrorism have in common with
efforts to address local quality of life issues such as failing physical
infrastructures, the educational achievement gaps among racial and income
groups, tensions over police shootings, and growing income disparities?
All of these issues require that we form strong social bonds
if we want to make progress and improve our quality of life. Building community
– in its broadest sense – demands our attention for this new year.
We, the inhabitants of this planet, share a common destiny.
We will succeed or fail together to overcome ecological and
social challenges at the global level. Nothing but working together – setting a
worldwide vision and achieving it – will enable humanity to survive and thrive.
Joint efforts have become a necessity for resolving economic, social,
environmental, and other problems that transcend political boundaries and
require us to forge social ties throughout a world community.
Closer to home, local quality of life issues related to
infrastructure, education, housing, health care, and other parts of our lives
demand reliance on our social groups – families, neighbors, community
associations. The education of our children, for example, requires strong ties
between parents and children, within neighborhoods, and between communities and
schools. Each part of the community needs to stand up, do its part, and
communicate with the other parts.
As the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. noted: “We are
caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of
destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.” By implication,
we must nurture a cooperative spirit among the “all” in order to nurture the
well-being of every “one” of us.
What practical
implications does this reality have? Just a few examples, related to issues in
the current press.
The achievement gap.
For those who see the achievement gap as someone else’s problem, who feel that
any mismatch between the competencies of our graduates and the needs of
employers falls only on the shoulders of the business community to solve, please
understand that all children are our children. We have a connection to them
along with moral and practical imperatives to ensure their healthy development.
If any of them fail, we all as a community fail.
Police/resident
tensions. Recent police shootings have exacerbated already strained
relationships between the police and some residents of our communities. One public
official went so far a few weeks ago as to suggest that residents of his area
should throw stones at the police. If we want to move forward productively, we
need to resist the temptation to construct barriers. Community leaders should
invite police officers to the next neighborhood barbecue, ask some of them to join
in at youth clubs or school events to discuss their work, and take whatever
steps possible to forge social connections that will build understanding and
trust.
Immigration. We
all come from somewhere else. Even our Native American residents migrated from another
place. We serve as temporary caretakers of our land and our civilization, with
generations of people to follow, some who look like us and many who do not. While
surely we must protect ourselves from those who would do harm, we must put more
focus on connecting with new arrivals. Efforts to foster continued success for
today’s immigrants — private and public efforts alike, collective and
individual — will pay rich dividends and honor our own immigrant pasts.
All of us can provide more examples. The theme is clear.
Nurturing social connections, building community – we must focus on those
activities during 2016 in order to achieve a better world for all.
