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| January Race, Class, and Civil Rights |
| February Poverty, Homelessness, and Unemployment |
| March Imperialism and Economic Injustice |
| April Environment |
| May Labor |
| June Population |
| July Violence |
| August Nuclear weapons |
| September Education, Information, and Communication |
| October Democracy and Religion |
| November Hunger and Health Care |
| December Children |
Certainly there are cycles of violence. Consider the Pentagon with more money now than ever, more by twice than Clinton requested. Money to the Pentagon is less money for social programs and education. When military spending is the priority and military solutions are always the proposed answers, social programs are cut, poverty increases and many young people have nowhere to go but the military or the street-where they learn new kinds of violence. Cities respond with more police, more prisons, and more violence.
Or, another cycle might start with children watching endless hours of TV or playing violent computer games because both parents work or there is only one work-weary parent. If nutrition is poor, if refined sugary foods are the norm, if there is no real contact with nature, and if the child's classrooms are crowded so that the child might receive no individual attention, development is distorted. And, if playground language is rough, games are aggressive, and children are humiliated, the child cannot possibly develop an egalitarian sense of life or any sort of reverence for the earth or the beings around her.
The responsibility belongs to those of us who understand these connections to "change the conversation" in the world about problems. They are all linked. A mass letter writing campaign on each month's subject from each progressive person in the US and, if the movement grows, in the world, could change the trajectory the world is on.
Sit down at your computer, or take pen in hand!