We have fought too hard and come too far in the struggle to rebuild our communities to allow those gains to slip away because of callous indifference. We already saw what happened in New Orleans. Year after year of fiscal neglect wore away both the physical foundation of the levees and the social structure of public safety.

We are beginning to see similar erosion here in Massachusetts, where federal cut-backs in the most basic forms of support - for job training, for schools, for community policing - have worn down our levees of protection so much that violence is now spilling over the edges and carrying away our young men.

In the face of slow abandonment, we must make a simple resolution: no more broken levees - of any kind.

When it comes to crime, the steadfast efforts in Massachusetts must be matched by equal resolve in Washington. Unfortunately, we're moving in the opposite direction.Since 1999, funding for the COPS program has been cut by one third. Law enforcement officials estimate they'll have to cope with $127 million less in anti-gang funding in the next fiscal year. The Juvenile Accountability block grant is set to be slashed altogether.

We know that investing in police and investing in human capital makes our communities stronger and safer. Yet too easily, with too little debate, the choice is made to cut them, hoping nobody will notice, forgetting that these actions leave our kids to grow up in less safe neighborhoods.

But restoring funding to crucial programs is not enough. Every one of us - every public official and police officer, every parent and teacher, every songwriter and filmmaker, every worker and business leader, and every young person, stretching toward adulthood - must make a commitment to repudiate the allure of violence and brutality.

How can we ask young people to reject violence when the generations above them refuse to protest its cheap charisma? How can we ask young people to care for one another when older generations too often only care about themselves? Indeed, our biggest struggle to end violence is often not with others, but with ourselves.

The great spiritual traditions of the world all teach that human beings are in the greatest moral danger when their hearts grow hard, when they are no longer bothered by the cries of the widow and the orphan, when they no longer hunger for justice, when the rich man no longer sees Lazarus at his gate. They all teach that our obligation is not lecturing others how to behave, but striving to renew our own hearts and practices.

As Christians, we remember that last Friday was the 12th day of Christmas, the feast of the Epiphany. It is the day when, according to the Gospel of Matthew, the three magi came from the east to present their gifts to the Prince of Peace. They went not to the tyrant Herod, not to the emperor in Rome, but to a child who later preached that the path to loving God lay through loving one's neighbor.

As much as it is easy to succumb to apathy, this year we can embrace a different resolution. Lincoln reminded us that our task as Americans was that of continuous rededication to all our neighbors and to our common democratic life. That's a faith we all can keep.

John Kerry is a U.S. senator. Bob Massie is an Episcopal minister who lives in Somerville.