12/20/02 (I'm late posting this)

I saw “8 Mile” last night. The slums of Detroit are another world. And worlds like this pocket America. Strange. And ominous.

The movie reeks with life. These people don't go to shrinks to deal with ennui. Just clinging to existence is a full time effort. And that involves a vitality that has no way to express but in toughness and violence. And creativity. Rappers are everywhere, and the street is right in tune with them. Talent is in long supply.

Thanks to the filmmaker for a graphic glimpse of world's colliding that can't maintain as a stable reality. So now what? My impulse is to speak out — to say that attention must be paid. You can't leave people in degradation. Bringing neighborhoods up to decent standards is imperative. It's gorgeous to build architecturally masterful new museums and to rebuild the World Trade Center, but those hallmarks of our excellence are nowhere near as important as clearing up what threatens to sink whatever we build. Then, the international situation is just an extension of these domestic realities, where we have to make the world a place where everyone gets a fairer shake.

We all struggle along, tearing our hair, worrying about terrorism, but the bullet of paying attention to what needs doing close to home, as the cornerstone of creating a more equitable world, we haven't bitten. Go see this movie. See if it's OK to just watch it as entertainment, or if it stirs you to action.

Could there be a campaign that social commentators spark? Could people who write what people read turn their full throttle attention to it? Could they advocate a fundamental change? 

People who work o­n NBC shows and people in the audience who came to see the Today Show were the o­nes who were donating toys this morning. I was particularly struck when Katie Couric thanked the woman o­n the staff whose job it is to assemble the toys, that she also gets from corporations and wherever else she can find donors. The woman was said to have a very demanding job which she'd been working at for a long time. Since the project gets just a few mentions o­n the Today Show, it's essentially a gesture of altruism.

YES! Let all who can do so make serious gestures of altruism. Yes, yes, yes. Earn Brownie Points like crazy. Let corporations compete for how great their social services are. Can you imagine affluent auspices struggling to outdo o­ne another to help humanity? I can.

I'm sending this to some people I post o­n this website, to see if I can enroll them in spearheading such a thing. A space has been opened here. It could take just a few powerful voices, in concert, to send waves out that embrace everyone. Could giving be what propels us in this new year?

An inspiration comes from the fight against graffiti that was waged in New York City. That effort was small time compared to fighting criminals, but it turned out to be a key to reducing crime. There's a chapter about this in

Could tackling poverty in America result in dissolving the terrorist threat? Indeed, it could be THE way.