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JOIN AMERICA'S VILLAGE OF VIGILANCE:
BE A SENTRY FOR THE CHILDREN's CHILDREN

 

GROUND ZERO PLUS 1068 DAYS--New York, NY, Friday, August 13, 2004--The Christian Science Monitor (CSM)features an interesting story this morning about the Village of Vigilance.

This Village of Vigilance includes fishermen who keep an eye out for boats that may be suspicious carriers of Terrorists trying to land and bring death and destruction to citizen.

Another group keeping its Vigilant Eye focusedfor events that may be extraordinary, and possibly Terror-based, is the handyman. Working around buildings and neighbors, CSM reports they are keeping their sights on anything that might suggest a potential Terror threat.

 

Manhattan's doormen sweep people entering buildings for suspicious packages. Truck drivers offer sentries on the road, keeping a suspicious eye alert for the possibility of someone delivering weapons or explosives.

The CSM notes that amusement park employees are like sentries, reporting any unusual requests that might suggest they are seeking inside information that might lead to a Terror attack.

In Pennsylvania, the state's Commission on Crime and Delinquency has trained more than 60,000 citizens, from small business owners to Rotary Club members on antiterrorism tactics.

Called the "first responders," the key to thwarting Terrorism begins with a consciousness of each of the nearly 300,000,000 Americans that everyone is responsible for the protection of the Children's Children's Children.

A society under threat has no choice but to weave together its individual strengths into one major Vigilant Web, making it as hard as possible for Terrorism to slip through the cracks.

More importantly is the attitude of those comprising the Village of Vigilance.

Terrorism works on undermining a society's sense of security by injecting Fear, Intimidation and Complacency into its daily atmosphere.

To compete, such a society must replace Fear with at least One Percent more Courage, trump Intimidation with at least One Percent more Conviction, and quash Complacency(sense of powerlessness) with at least One Percent more Right Actions that benefit the Children's Children's Children.

The Village of Vigilance is on the right road. Its members are charging themselves with the duty to protect their own, and not abdicating that responsibility to the federal or local governments.

The Village of Vigilance is not waiting. It is acting.

The key to being a Parent of Vigilance, a Citizen of Vigilance, a Loved One of Vigilance, is to assume the personal responsibility to be a member of the Village of Vigilance. If one does not take a personal vow to stand up to Fear, Intimidation and Complacency, then the Beast of Terror has the advantage from the onset.

When it attacks physically or emotionally, the victims of the attack have no defense, no ability to proact because the mind and body has deferred the role of Vigilance to others.

In my own situation I am battling the Beast of Corporate Terror. This Beast has threatened the security of my family and stands laughing at me because of how "small" and "insignificant" I am in its eyes.

To compete against the Beast of Corporate Terror, I am calling on the Village of Vigilance. I am asking for those who see the Beast of Corporate Terror as I do--a threat to my children and their children, and my children's children's children--worthy of doing great battle with the Beast.

My Village of Vigilance today is filled with all those who have been victimized by Corporate Terror.

But Corporate Terror is only one part of a many faceted problem. Terrorism takes so many nefarious forms that we must expect the unexpected. If we look in the mirror and hate what we see, that is a form of Terrorism far more important than Corporate Terrorism because it means the Beast is within us...has penetrated our personal being.

Until we can fight our own Beast, we cannot effectively fight the ones outside us. That's the key, I believe, to the Village of Vigilance.

To make the Village work, everyone needs to take a long, deep personal inventory and resolve the issue: "I am a victim of the Beast of Terror or a Sentinel of Vigilance."

The difference between the two is quite simple. One wallows in the victimization believing he or she can do nothing, or, turns over that responsibility to the federal government, a psychiatrist, a drink, drugs, or any diversion that doesn't make the individual responsible.

The other option is to stand tall as a Sentinel of Vigilance and be fearless enough to face the biggest of all Terrorists--your own Fear, Intimidation and Complacency--but not for personal gain--for the ultimate protection of the Children's Children's Children.

Standing tall is not an easy task. It puts up for grabs all you believe in, and demands that you retest those beliefs daily in all your actions.

Such a quest does not demand perfection, only progress. We might fail to achieve our goals of Vigilance, but if we are moving toward them, we are Victorious in the attempt. When the Beast knows he can't beat us back, and that we keep coming despite being heaped with Fear, Intimidation and Complacency, the Beast begins to run and seeks out easier victims.

My battle with Corporate Terrorism is full of Fear, Intimidation and Complacency since the company I stand up to manages nearly $1 trillion in funds, and has some 90,000 employees and a legions of lawyers readying their swords and shields to decimate me.

By all standards, I should run.

But, as a member of the Village of Vigilance, I cannot. The crimes committed against me, ricocheted off my family and grandchildren, wounding them as well as my wife and me.

I fight them not to win something for myself solely, but to insure my children and grandchildren have a way to redress a wrong, and to remind them that the "bigger they are, the harder they fall."

I couldn't do what I have to do without the Village of Vigilance around me. Just reading about the proliferation of Vigilance among the population inspires me to sharpen my Sword of Vigilance and cut through those Fears, Intimidations and Complacencies that suggest I am not strong enough to fight my Corporate Monster.

I am.

As long as I hold hands with other members of the Village of Vigilance.

You can join the Vigilance Circle. You can put your hand in the hands of others who have pledged their Vigilance to future generations.

Just take the Pledge of Vigilance.

When you do, you have become a member of the Village of Vigilance.

Go To Yesterday's Story: "America's Indifferent, Arrogant Corporate Terrorist"

 

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