Article August 19, 1991 Issue

A heart for community

It's natural to care deeply about community. Real love for family extends to neighbors—and overflows for the whole of society. This occasional column tells of how a spiritual perspective has been helping Sentinel readers help others and make a contribution to healing some of the collective challenges facing communities today.

For eight and a half years I served as a juvenile court judge in one of the highest crime neighborhoods in the country.

The citizens in that district were nearly all of a different race than I. Well-meaning people warned me that, both as a judge and as one of another race, I wouldn't be safe walking around in the community where I worked. But I figured that, if I was going to be effective, I couldn't have a relationship with the community based on fear. I knew it would be a tremendous help in my work to become familiar with the community, with the schools these juveniles attended, with principals, teachers, ministers—just knowing what was going on.

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