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NINE INNINGS TO GROUND ZERO IS NINE INNINGS TO GROUND VIGILANCE
The Yankees made sure there was no Triad of Terrorism three years ago with the help from their friends at Ground Zero

GROUND ZERO PLUS 1103 DAYS,--New York, NY, Saturday, September 18, 2004--Socrates, about 2400 years ago, casually stated: "The unexamined life is not worth living."

The film grabbed me by the heart and soul

I felt the opposite last night when my wife suggested we watch "Nine Innings To Ground Zero." I was tired of watching reflections about September 11, especially when they were commercially based.

Ignorance is bliss, and I shunned the HBO documentary because I thought it was a movie with actors and a plot. I figured I knew the ending, which I consider to be the beginning of the Era of Terrorism.

But then torrential rain sobered me up.

Since arriving in New York some five years ago I have become a New York Yankee fan. What's interesting, is I am not a sports fan. Frankly, I never watch any sports. The Yankees duel with the Boston Red Sox tonight was my filet mignon.

We hurried home from our daughter's school where it was New Parent's Night. We offered our assistance to set things up, and then dashed home to catch the game before the tail of the storm Ivan lashed its failing fury on Yankee Stadium.

President Bush throws out the first ball
President Bush throws out the first ball

We caught about a half an inning before the rain delayed the game. I grabbed the clicker and began to surf channels, trying to avoid HBO because I knew my wife wanted to watch the show.

Nothing was on except the History Channel's repeat of "True Story About Pearl Harbor," a documentary we had seen so many times I could tell you the name of the Japanese pilot who is credited with sinking the U.S.S. Arizona.

I paused on my way past HBO to take a peek. That was a mistake. The show I had written off as "just another Nine Eleven Promo" reached out and grabbed me by the heart and soul. The film juxtaposes the games at Yankee Stadium with the recovery effort going on simultaneously nine miles south at Ground Zero in lower Manhattan.

I sat mesmerized by the power of a game to lift millions of people's spirits above the horror of Nine Eleven.

I had forgotten the power of the Yankees and their role in providing New Yorkers with Courage, Conviction and Right Actions that benefit the Children's Children's Children.

The power of baseball and the Yankee's lifted the spirits of New Yorkers...
The power of baseball and the Yankee's lifted the spirits of New Yorkers.....
...and fans everywhere
...and fans everywhere

As I watched the power of the average people reaching out to the Yankees--the young girl whose father was one of the pilots who was killed thanked Derek Jeter for lifting her spirits--the brother who lost two of his brothers rushing to Game Five of the World Series as a symbol of moving on with life--all these and other comments conspired to bring tears to my eyes.

I realized that for New York City, and for countless thousands ripped and shredded by the ravishing fangs and claws of Terrorism that swept New York City that September, the Yankees represented the Sentinels of Vigilance.

Despite the Fear, Intimidation and Complacency that shadowed the nation, the Yankees stood strong against all odds. The team was not even supposed to be in the World Series. The Yankees play that season was sub championship, but destiny had a reason for them to be in the finals.

Millions of New Yorkers watched the Yankees' miraculous come back play against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Yankee Stadium. As though the Angels of Nine Eleven were rooting them on, they came from behind to beat the Diamondbacks to the cheers and tears of thirsty New Yorkers seeking a moment of respite from the madness of memories that only days before eviscerated the city's soul.

I had frogotten the power of the Yankees to bring back Courage, Conviction and Right Actions...
I had forgotten the power of the Yankees to bring back Courage, Conviction and Right Actions.....

As the Yankees won, the smell of burning bodies from Ground Zero wafted through the city, and any hope of finding someone alive waned day by day.

...to all New Yorkers in their time of need
.....to all New Yorkers in their time of need

"Nine Innings From Ground Zero" captured what I believe to be the Spirit of Vigilance. Often, I am concerned that maybe the Spirits of Vigilance didn't really rise up from Ground Zero and form a Circle of Vigilance that September day that I sat in the rubble and recorded the sight.

There are moments when I feel as though there are no "real" Sentinels of Vigilance, and that everything about them is only a struggle to keep alive a spirit of belief that reality reminds me is buried beneath millions of pounds of earth.

Then, something like "Nine Innings From Ground Zero" appears. The lens of the cameras captured the moment with such power that the most severe critic of belief would have to agree that there was some slim chance that such things as Spirits of Vigilance do exist, if no where else than in the heart and soul of a young girl whose father was the pilot of a hijacked plane that smashed into the North Tower.

There was so much in the documentary that moved me, I am unable to capture them in words, except for one overall conviction.

People of New York were cheering instead of crying
People of New York were cheering instead of crying

If one watches the documentary, he or she will see the Spirits of Vigilance in the middle of Yankee Stadium. The people of New York were cheering instead of crying, rooting instead of cowering, and filled with hope and belief instead of despair and dismay.

There was also the magic of the Yankees. The miraculous come back plays that lifted the stadium off its foundations were inspired by forces far beyond any one's comprehension.

Three years later, the documentary reinforced that the Sentinels of Vigilance are still playing ball. They are a team, seeking to strike out Terrorism.

The Yankees made sure there was no Triad of Terrorism three years ago with the help from their friends at Ground Zero
The Yankees made sure there was no Triad of Terrorism three years ago with the help from their friends at Ground Zero

And I am proud to be one of their fans.

You can be too. Just take the Pledge of Vigilance and put yourself on the roster of the Sentinels of Vigilance. They need your bat to hit home runs against the Beast of Terror who throws us all curves in the form of Fear, Intimidation and Complacency.

None of the Triad of Terrorism existed in Yankee Stadium or three years ago.

The Yankees made sure of that, with a little help from their friends at Ground Zero.

 

 

 

Go To Yesterday's Story: "In The Face Of Nature's Terrorism, Who Stands Above The Death And Destruction?"

 

 

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