If I were to close my eyes and imagine a city that I would love to move to and live in, it would be a place that shined, even on a rainy day. A place where people are smiling, thoughtful, and helpful. A place that was clean—no garbage or graffiti visible—because the people who live there really care about the city because they consider it their home. It would be a place where people felt compelled to care for it because they care about their neighbors. It would be a place where love could be easily felt.
When I consider love and what it truly is, I have experienced what love is through the work I do. I have experienced it in believing that people can be so much more than what society has been convinced of. I have experienced it in watching people’s light shine when they begin to see themselves as capable—truly capable—for perhaps the first time.
Love is caring about the well-being of ourselves, our neighbors, and our environment. It is making sure they have what they need to flourish—not just to survive, but to become their fullest selves. Love is kindness. Love is understanding. Love can look like saying no when necessary, or saying yes when it makes sense. Love is teaching. Love is accountability. Love is showing others how to do what they don’t know how to do—so they can become the best version of themselves.
I know this definition not from theory but from lived experience. I have watched what happens when this love is applied intentionally within systems designed to transform people. I have witnessed the outcomes that emerge when we educate and empower people to care for themselves and their families. The transformation is not subtle. It is real. It is measurable. It is undeniable. When the focus shifts from managing problems to unlocking human capability, the outcomes are fundamentally different. People don’t just survive—they thrive. They become providers, not recipients. They become strong.
A good city provides a space for people to grow, to learn, to become a blessing in the lives of others. It is a place where people can come and enjoy their time, where people join together and share culture, excitement, and fun. A good city provides structure and safety to those who make up its community. But more fundamentally, a good city is built on an understanding of human potential—on the belief that people are capable of far more than we typically ask of them.
The strongest part of a city is community. It is the whole coming together to lift up the weak. It is understanding that in order for those struggling to thrive and not burden the rest of the community, real structures must be put in place that support and stabilize them. But these structures must do something critical: they must teach people to build themselves up. They must be oriented toward strength, not toward permanence in need.
A strong city is built on rules, laws, and ordinances that support a flourishing people—that equip people to flourish. It does not take advantage of those who work the hardest; it rewards them. And though it cares for those who have less, it rewards those who provide for the less rather than punishing them. Because when we punish effectiveness, we drive out the strong, and without them, the weak will be uncared for.
We need to understand what’s happening in our cities and our nation. The evidence is stark and should alarm us.
Ginny Burton is a former street addict, University of Washington graduate, founder of O-UT (Overhaul-Unrelenting Transfiguration), and facilitates transformational change programs.
