tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7699336243107587106.post8353421054517044317..comments2014-06-11T10:44:42.251-04:00Comments on From The Files of Nefarious Newt: The Blood On Our HandsNefarious Newthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16265387596697011256noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7699336243107587106.post-18116394842260207482009-10-14T10:28:02.757-04:002009-10-14T10:28:02.757-04:00@bacom37: We shouldn't need a road map at this...@bacom37: We shouldn't need a road map at this point, but if you need concrete examples, here are the kinds of things we need to do more of in all neighborhoods, not just poor ones:<br /><br />- Day care for poor working mothers<br />- After school programs to encourage reading, writing, music, and arts<br />- Increase the presence of adults in the lives of kids, through new and existing programs<br /><br />Neighborhoods used to take care of themselves. People used to work together. Now, we retreat behind our doors and windows, pull the blinds, and ignore the world outside. We put more effort into going to the gym than we do to improving the lives of those around us.<br /><br />And I am not claiming to be prefect -- there is certainly more <b>I</b> can do. I just think we all need to find the time to do these things, to steer kids away from destructive behaviors and expand their horizons.Nefarious Newthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16265387596697011256noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7699336243107587106.post-40150256648186934662009-10-11T20:23:46.916-04:002009-10-11T20:23:46.916-04:00You've written a string of platitudes. Be mo...You've written a string of platitudes. Be more specific; what would you like ordinary Americans - those of us with blood on our hands - to do to prevent this kind of tragedy?bacom37https://www.blogger.com/profile/05422091910373882211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7699336243107587106.post-41764981585097556892009-10-01T15:11:32.225-04:002009-10-01T15:11:32.225-04:00Thank you. I think the idea that you should leave ...Thank you. I think the idea that you should leave things better than you found them is at the heart of our existence as human beings. Whatever advantages each of us has individually, it is not enough to simply pass them on, but to nurture them, make them grow, and spread them. Ideas such as justice, well-being, shelter, nourishment... these are not things that we can keep to ourselves.<br /><br />The problem is that we come from such disparate settings, and backgrounds, and points of view, that we allow those things to obscure the truth -- that we are all one species, mankind, and have only one home. No division we create, no belief we hold, no aspect of ourselves we use to judge, can alter that fact.Nefarious Newthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16265387596697011256noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7699336243107587106.post-26260852670718377792009-10-01T14:52:03.171-04:002009-10-01T14:52:03.171-04:00Oh Newt, I love you. This is so powerful. Especial...Oh Newt, I love you. This is so powerful. Especially this: "It is in the hands of every one of us to make sure that our nation is better than it was the day before," and especially-especially this: "If we listen to the voices that say there is no profit in helping others, we stain the memory of those who fought to give us freedom with the blood of innocents." We Jews call it <i>tikkun olam</i>, repairing the world. We're not required to complete the task, any one of us, but neither are we free to desist from action. The union will only be made more perfect if we act to make it so, and that goes all the way down into the angry streets of hopeless boys, and the children who live and die in fear of them.Emily L. Hauserhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17044792795849912714noreply@blogger.com