Social justice is the mortar for building safe, just, and compassionate communities. These are also the building blocks for safe, just, and compassionate societies-which, in turn, is the best guarantee for a safe, just, and compassionate world. The September attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon demonstrates two implacable facts of modern life: 1) physical distance and geographical features no longer guarantee safety and 2) isolationism is not an option. What happens "over there" impacts what happens "here," and vice versa. Our world has become interconnected and interdependent as never before.

As we sift through the debris of our collective psyche in search of an answer to, "How can people kill hundreds or thousands of innocent people?" we need to acknowledge the motivating role social injustice plays in rationalizing such human brutality. We need to ask, as Langston Hughes did, "What happens to a dream deferred?" As we enter the war on terrorism upon the heels of the recent terrorist acts we, as patriots and world citizens, must act to prevent such deeds from ever happening again, anywhere. As we seek retribution we need to consider the warnings of Ghandi and Martin Luther King: violence begets violence. As we seek causes we need to consider the role governmental and economic policies play in the perpetuation of inequality. And finally, as we grope our way into the twenty-first century we are compelled, if not by moral suasion then by enlightened self interest, to reconsider social justice as the cornerstone for assuring a sustainable safe, just, and compassionate world.

But just what is social justice? I wrote earlier (New Designs for Youth Development, Volume 15, Number 3) that if justice is, as Aristotle said, giving each man his due, then social justice is no more or less than providing each member of society their due. This means that all social interactions, from the simplest dyad to the most internationally complex, are bound by the Golden Rule: Do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Sound simple and straightforward? As a precept, yes; as a practice, no; for it calls for changing the way we conduct social intercourse.

Such a shift calls for the eradication of socio/economic/environmental root causes of inequality and an end to wanton destruction of our natural world. Included is a guarantee of equal rights and opportunities for youth and adults to become self-actualizing individuals and collective members of our communities. Simply put, those who wish to share in decisions that effect their lives should be able to do so.

Actions toward this end would include the elimination of poverty, homelessness, racism, and homophobia; the removal of toxins from our earth, air, and water; and the ratification of the Convention of the Rights of the Child.

The just and good society, however, is more than a set of guaranteesñand certainly more than a series of legislative or social programs. The just and good society is a way of life, buoyed by a political and social culture, that is proactive, holistic, and community based.

Furthermore, as our authors point out, this notion of social justice stretches us to reach beyond traditional prevention and youth programs toward building just and good communities. Curnan, LaCava, and Crane address the need to confront acts of injustice; Boyes-Watson illustrates how to reach justice by participating in peacemaking circles; Taylor Mendez and Grossman bring to fore the need to organize to promote justice; Checkoway and Richards-Schuster convey the importance of youth participation to attain justice; Scott addresses the need to hold children in trust; and finally, Sanchez and Gil challenge us to think deeply about the principles and theory of law, justice, and oppression.