Having said that, however, we cannot help but recognize that Baltimore suffers from a whole host of big city problems-problems which are endemic to a great many cities across the US: more than 50% of babies born in Baltimore are born out of wedlock, we're close to the top in homicides averaging close to one murder a day, drug use and drug sales are exorbitantly high, HIV and other disease rates are high, gang violence abounds, educational achievement and graduation rates are abysmally low, unemployment is high, poverty is widespread, and the list goes on and on. In fact, whenever Baltimore makes national news, it's usually for some dubious distinction, like being number one in syphilis, etc.

As you well know by know, this website is all about Selling a Vision of Hope in the Middle East. But we need only look at the inner city to realize that hope is in short supply right here and right now. How can we possibly look to change the world, without also looking to change ourselves? People the world over need hope like air to breathe, and for many of our less fortunate citizens, the need for hope is crying out for our attention.

Many of the ingredients needed to Sell a Vision of Hope in the Middle East could prove quite handy to Sell a Vision of Hope right here at home. First, we would sell people on a Vision of Hope using Common Sense and Investment. Second, we would support and sustain the vision with programs that are designed to bolster the vision and to carry it forward. Third, and when absolutely necessary, we may have no choice but to fight to reclaim our neighborhoods, but to fight within a Vision of Hope.

Ideology plus Investment equals Hope. Use common sense to talk to the residents of the inner city, and to convince them, as Bill Cosby is beginning to do: that their lives could be made better, that they are in the best position to make that happen, that change has to happen from within even as help comes from without, that they may have to reassess what best works for them, that they may need to let go of some preconceived notions and beliefs, that they may want to consider some new ways of organizing their lives, and that it is time for the cynicism of the past to give way to the hope for tomorrow.

And, as with all issues of great import, we will have no choice but to invest. But we shouldn't just throw money at the problem, as we are doing in many of our schools, and in many of our social welfare programs. We should invest in ways which make sense, and in ways that inspire a sense of hope: teach kids the skills they need for good paying jobs, find ways to have those jobs waiting form them when they graduate, teach the values which are consistent with a more hopeful future, find ways to provide healthcare for the uninsured, encourage investments in better housing, and so forth.

As inner city residents begin to buy into a Vision of Hope, we should support and sustain that vision with a whole host of programs that are specifically designed to do just that: a Media Campaign could be used to help people make sense of their lives and could reinforce the promise of a better tomorrow, a program to Empower Women could encourage young women and help them to take control of their lives by getting good jobs and by having children within the framework of good and healthy marriages, a Cultural Exchange could include a mentoring program between schools in impoverished areas and schools in affluent areas, a Student Exchange could envision taking talented students from the inner city and affording them the opportunity to study at top ranked schools, an Expanded Peace Corps Program could train inner city kids to become Peace Corps volunteers around the world, and to broaden their horizons while affording them the opportunity to help others in need.

We are well advised to begin selling inner city residents on a Vision of Hope, and to support the vision with programs designed to carry the vision forward. And when the need arises, we will fight for a Vision of Hope by doing what we have to, to take back our communities-communities which have been allowed to languish and to drift gradually into a state of utter chaos. But our ability to reclaim our neighborhoods will depend on the good will we show to one another, by speaking with common sense and with a sense of personal dignity, and by investing in one another, in a way that is more likely than current efforts, to make real the promise of a better day.

Yes, we can remain focused on the Middle East, as we must, but we dare not lose sight of some similar realities to be found right here at home. The hope for mankind is to recognize the needs that we all share in common, and to address those needs with a Vision of Hope. Only in this way can we build the bridges which can make us whole.