Why would this former head of Rockefeller Foundation and International Herald Tribune insult your intelligence like this?

To make the point that major shifts in societal organization have occurred in ways that no one had predicted. No one was smart enough to predict the exact time that the Berlin Wall would come down without a gunshot… that apartheid would end in South Africa through a negotiated revolution and not massive bloodshed….that slavery would be legally abolished in the 1860s when for so long it was a legitimate form of social organization…

How many of you could have predicted 10 years ago that you would be sitting in this room right now reading this article on the Internet?

No one ever knows exactly how long it will take to get somewhere. The only thing they can do is keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Slavery is a good example of something that underwent a complete shift in human attitude. It went for centures as a legitimate form of social organization, but by the 1860s it was no longer considered acceptable. Even where it does exist, it is still a crime.

Major transitions have happened sooner than anyone ever would have expected- and yet some never happen at all. Just as we are not smart enough to be pessimistic, nor are we smart enough to be optimistic either.

Peter Goldmark’s words continued: There are huge mountains in front of you on your journey. Most leaders will never know if or how they will get across them or even how far they need to walk before they arrive at their destination- their goal. They can only continue to walk and try to use the tools and opportunities around them to do so. Many will give up the walk and decide to live an easier life, but the most powerful will be able to keep putting one foot in front of the other and engage others to walk with them.

Define yourself. Be informed. The real risk is not being in touch with what is going on around you. On the train of history, you do not want to find that you spent so much time trying to get a little more (money, cars, houses) and realize you have been on the caboose.

In so many ways, Peter is right. And I think this is something I need to be reminded of every once in a while. Sometimes, I feel like the world is just falling apart: war, suffering, injustice, inequality. I mean, just last week on my day out in New York (see “Today I applied for Food Stamps and an Abortion” post below), I was wondering how we would ever be able to fix the social services system. I wondered what impact one person like me could really have.

Then I met Herb Sturz (longtime social innovator) and took a visit to Redhook Community Justice Center in Brooklyn (RCJC).

As rays of sunshine beamed through the window of a cold room, I walked into a meeting at RCJC with about twelve people sitting around a table reading off a list of convicts. These convicts had plead guilty to mostly non-violent crimes and had chosen rehabilitation options such as drug treatment or community service in place of jail time. The judge, legal aid society rep, a social worker, a sanctions officer, case managers, rehab clinic representatives, the Assistant District Attorney and others were represented around the table. They were actually reviewing the status of each person since they were convicted over the last several months—this is a rare occurrence in a courthouse where usually after they are sentenced, they are someone else’s problem to deal with for compliance.

In our meeting, Herb Sterz gave great advice about ensuring that you “see with your own eyes” and understand problems for yourself. The RCJC model is a wonderful design that allows the “system” to be closer to understanding the people and their problems. This is a ‘Problem Solving Court.” It is a one stop shop for services which allow for more efficiency in addressing the underlying problems that bring people into the justice system. RCJC believes that the real concerns are not drugs, but the lack of opportunity and isolation.

Launched in June 2000, the Red Hook Community Justice Center is the nation's first multi-jurisdictional community court. RCJC addresses neighborhood problems like drugs, crime, domestic violence and landlord-tenant disputes. It has fashioned a model whereby sixteen outside agencies are housed within the courthouse: Human Resources Admin (Medicaid, food stamps, job placement), victim advocacy services, GED classes, Housing Resource Center (helps facilitate public housing disputes to prevent court action), a nurse practitioner, child care, etc. There is no excuse for not successfully complying with your sentence given all the resources available there. They even have a Youth Court where peers put others on trial for crimes in the community.

The holding cells here are clean with glass walls, not bars.

The staff (such as the DA and judge) are present at most community events such as softball games and are not seen as the evil agents of the system. The judge even goes to make personal inspections in the public housing projects where a case against NY Housing Authority (NYHA) had been made for things such as a gaping whole in the wall and lack of heat or running water. They were able to rearchitect the complaints system and get NYHA to pay better attention to this low-income community with mostly minority residents. A coordinated approach with many agencies allows for more accountability overall (community members to the system and vise versa).

And guess what? They are saving you tax dollars. Most of the rehabilitation options chosen by defendants in this court are cheaper than traditional jail time (ex: $40K per year for drug treatment mostly paid for by private insurance companies vs. $100k per year for jail time paid out of tax payers pockets). And the compliance rates for sentences are at 80% in Redhook vs. the ‘downtown courthouse’ where it is at 55%. Since RCJC was opened, crime is at an all time low and studies show that people feel safer.

So whatever your goal in this world, be confident and comfortable enough to take it step by step and try to get people to come with you (or join someone else)—even if you aren’t exactly sure how far away that goal may be. Remember what Goldmark said, “You are not smart enough to be pessimistic.” Peace, equality, justice and community may be closer than you think. Perhaps down the hall from the courtroom.