Borrowing from Karen Pittman's admonition that "being problem free is not good enough," I submit that, when it comes to health, "being disease or addiction free is not good enough." In this edition of CYD Journal we broaden the definition of "health" to include the social, spiritual, and mental realms of human thought and action.

A CYD perspective does not attempt to "fix" individuals, but looks at the larger systems for the source(s) of stress and healing. Technically speaking, etiology rests in systems rather than in individuals. This does not deny the fact that individuals become mentally and physically ill, or that healthy individual life styles promote healthier and longer lives. Rather, this perspective holds that individual and collective health is an organic, interactive, ongoing relationship both within the individual (mind, body, and soul) and between the individual, the social, and natural worlds. This is precisely the tack taken by the California Wellness Foundation in promoting "wellness villages." In our lead article, "Helping Ourselves to Health: Youth Lead Wellness Villages in California," the authors demonstrate the practical application of this approach. The smaller collective units of the larger world may be family, neighborhood, school, or workplace, but each contributes significantly to the overall health of its members. In the larger sense, the interaction among these smaller units and the social and natural world can enhance or limit our healthy development. Similarly, in the article "Walking Within the Medicine Wheel: Healing, Health, and the Spirit," Mel Muise encourages us to understand our "journey place," which helps us to gain a sense of perspective on ourselves and with the outer world.

For us, an important part of the outer world is the social context in which we live. Let me provide two examples of the interaction between the individual and social worlds and how they affect our individual and collective health. On the negative side, slavery once flourished in this country. The effects of slavery upon the enslaved went far beyond any legalistic denial of rights. As a social institution it cut to the very core of being by denying slaves not only their freedom, but also their humanity. The physical and mental anguish that resulted is pervasive. Slavery was unhealthy for the slave as well as for the society. What is perhaps harder to understand is the legacy that this peculiar institution has had-and continues to have-on our culture. Racism is not healthy. Neither, by extension, is homophobia, anti-Semitism, or any other hate mongering. Democracy, as opposed to totalitarian societies or dictatorships, offers freedom. "Freedom" is not just a legal term; it is a condition of living that affects the mind, body, and soul of the individual-and the body politic. I believe it is axiomatic to conclude that living in a free society is healthier than living under the boot of oppression.

The ability to participate is key to living free. Civic engagement is a prime indicator of a healthy community. In his book Soul of a Citizen (see this edition's "Bookshelf"), Paul Loeb provides ample suasion of the importance of participation to the health of the body politic. Similarly, in the article "Youth Citizen Action: Creating a Democratic Exchange on Youth and Citizenship," Nicholas Longo and Suk Rhee stress the importance of youth engagement and the need for collaboration.

This perspective on health is useful as a social tool. It enables us to reach beyond traditional approaches in prevention (e.g., public education or group work on targeted problems), medicine (e.g., methadone maintenance), or law (e.g., youth curfews or assigning police to the schools) when seeking solutions to teen pregnancy, drug abuse, and violence. There is no need to blame or penalize individuals or to slot them into categories. The focus of public policy and our work shifts toward building healthy, participatory communities worldwide. Using this paradigm, "Just say no!" is merely an empty slogan.

This CYD perspective empowers youth to participate with adults in community building. By doing so, they journey beyond disease- and addiction-free models of health into the creative work of building healthy communities.

John P. Terry, Editor-in-Chief