It disturbs me when I turn on the TV or radio and hear about gang and street violence. Most of the times some innocent bystander gets shot and killed. When small children, teenagers, or innocent grown-up become a victim of violence one way or another, a fear runs down my spine. I want to scream at the top of lungs and say STOP, please STOP, stop this violence.

Shouting or blaming isn't going to help. What will help is "United Front" by all. We need to come home America, we need to come home. Our wants and desires, our jobs have taken us far and further away from our homes and communities. Our eyes got fixated for so long on the flashing money, that we forgot to take a look at our own basic needs & the basic needs of our families at home. Our greed and never ending hunger of wants for more and more has led us to where we are today. I remember someone saying "there are no accidents in life". What happens is usually either destined, or direct result of our actions. I wonder what would have happened if communities were together, and less was more. I am convinced that then our children would not be looking for attention elsewhere, or joining gangs to build false sense of belonging or self esteem

Since a lot of people are sitting at home these days due to job loss, lets start scratching our heads as to how we can start to protect our communities, neighbourhoods, our children ans senior citizens. Job is hunting is stressful, and these times are hard financially, people are getting depressed because they feel worthless without jobs. How about use this time to get to work to save out future, our present, and our elders?

Most important is to come together as neighbours and families. I know our neighbourhoods are more colorful now then they were in earlier times. This has happened because of immigrant Aliens (I often wonder why immigrants are called Aliens?), but so what? Lets embrace this new face of real America today. Lets work towards making our streets today.

I have a few suggestions:

1) Get to know your family well. Love them unconditionally. Unconditional love raises self-esteem and confidence in people. I am not saying don't descipline your kids, or accept abuse from your spouse- all I am saying is keep in mind which battles need to be really fought. A recent survey confirmed that people's most memorable moments were those that they spend with their loved ones in an informal setting. Yes more happiness than any materials could give them.

2) Get to know your neighbors well. Host block parties, have a ladies night out in your neighbourhood. Start inviting people over more frequently. Make it your business to know everyone on the block. There are too many child predators, drug dealers, etc etc out there. But when you are friendly with people, it makes them think twice.

3) Make sure everyone's kids know everyone on the block. Let kids be part of the get together. Don't forget to teach kids about strangers; they should be comfortable to let you know if something is not right.

4) Do not drive the Seniors out of your neighborhoods. Remember that they are watching the neighborhood while you are at work & can't be your own watchdogs. With all the free time they probably keep an eye on everyone who comes and goes through the neighborhood. Also in a close knit community, Seniors do live a more healthy life, and thrive with neighborly help.

5) Unless you know someone every well don't visit them alone; especially women and children. make it a point to visit in groups. I think visiting neighbors homes (after befriending them) is a good way of getting sense of who they are. Visiting also builds relationships.

6) Make sure you let the law enforcers know of suspicious activity in your neighborhood- early.

7) In neighborhoods with gang activity, try to make a watchdog group to keep gangs out of your neighborhood. May want to barricade streets partially at night if it is OK? Talk to local officials. In certain countries people hire a night watch man who circles around the neighborhood at night to keep an eye on the thieves. The neighbors contribute some set amount of money to pay this man on a monthly basis. Or people can take turns on keeping an eye on activity in the neighbourhood.

Hopefully these ideas will help make your neighborhood a safe place.