GROUND ZER0, New York, N.Y.--Jan. 5, 2004 --Saddam Hussein is waiting trial for the crimes of the 20th Century.  

       There are at least 500,000 counts of murder waiting in the wings to be waged against him.  Most of them were committed in the 20th Century against Iraqis.
       These crimes do not include the ones in Kuwait or outside the borders of the country Saddam ruled for nearly a quarter of a century.
       Saddam is the first world-class mass murderer Beast of Terror to be brought to trial.   Benito Mussolini, the tyrannical leader of Italy during World War II, was lynched.   Adolph Hitler killed himself.   Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot died of old age.
       Currently, a couple of obscure "Beasts" are on trial such as the Hutu in Rwanda and Slobodan Milosevic, but they are hardly known to the people of the world.
       Saddam stands alone in the Beast of Terror On Trial ring.

           In the January 5, 2004 issue of New Yorker Magazine, author George Packer points out that George Orwell, author of the famous novel, 1984, is known for underplaying the idea of revenge.
       "The whole idea of revenge and punishment is a day-dream," he wrote.  "Properly speaking, there is no such thing as revenge.  Revenge is an act which you want to commit when you are powerless and because you are powerless: as soon as the sense of impotency is removed, the desire evaporates also."
         Is Orwell suggesting that seeking revenge against Saddam is a waste of time?  
         Practically, it is when you apply the Principles of Vigilance to the issue.
         Saddam Hussein is the boil, the pustule of pestilence that burst and spewed its venom upon all who stood in his way.
         The idea of revenge forces all of us to question our own conscience, for revenge suggests that we sat back and allowed the Beast of Terror to grow and prosper before our very eyes and did little to stop his evolution.   Now, that the Beast is cornered and caged, we stab and shoot it, cut off its head, carry it around on a stick, and feel as though we have salved the wounds the Beast created.
          But where were we when the crimes were being planned, executed and the dead bodies piled one upon the other?
          For the moment, switch from Saddam to a child.
          The child is rude, angry, ill-mannered.   We shove pills in the child's mouth.  We send the child to therapy.   We shake our heads and maybe get angry at the child and punish him or her for not "acting" correctly.    No matter what punishment we issue, the child continues to resist authority, becomes a bully and finally commits crimes for which the child is put on trial as "incorrigible."
          Who is at fault?    Society sought its revenge on the child and punished it, but everyone who knows anything about the "criminal" knows that the odds of the child changing his or her ways once out of jail are slim.
           The Principles of Vigilance refute revenge as a solution to the development of the Beast of Terror.

           Revenge itself suggests we "wait" until the crimes reach a boiling point, then we rush in with fire fighters to put out the flames and drag the arsonist to jail.
            Orwell called it "the sense of impotence" to stop the Beast in his or her tracks.   Impotence is nothing more than Complacency.    Bullies rule the world and life when we stop being Vigilant, or, are never Vigilant.
            An ill-mannered child, unchecked and untrained, will grow up with the attitude of the bully.   If he or she finds that he or she can shove and bump his or her way through life, and that the large mass of people will move out of his or her way, then the Beast will grow.
           The same is true of the "quiet" child.  The child who has lost or never developed a sense of self-worth or self-respect because the child is constantly criticized or berated, or simply ignored, will become a reverse bully.   He or she will begin to cower within, constantly fearful of being wronged by others.    Such children walk with their heads down, worry about being liked and loved, feel distant and disenfranchised from others.   They see themselves as nails and the world as a hammer.  They are victims in training, waiting for the bullies to shove and push them about.

       The revenge we seek against Saddam Hussein suggests that we honor the result of mismanaging our children.   When we gleefully clap our hands and await the hangman's noose to snap Saddam's neck, we are asking for the false sense of security that we have indeed cut the head off the poisonous snake.
          It diverts our attention from the cradle, where the next Beast of Terror is being breast fed.  It blinds us to the Principles of Vigilance that remind us that if we do not train our children to defend themselves from the wrath of the Beast of Terror, they too might grow up to become a Child of Saddam, a Child of the Beast.

         Few parents want to make the connection between their duty and role as Parents of Vigilance and the danger they might become Parents of the Beast of Terror.   
          But how many parents vow to be Parents of Vigilance?   How many parents are willing to admit that the Beast of Terror gnaws and chews at their own psyches, often making them feel Fear, Intimidation and Complacency about the daily issues of life?   Like so many parents, it is much easier to shun those feelings and deny they interfere with life, when, in reality, each time those feelings swell and sweep through a parent's mind, they create ripples that sweep out to their children, washing them in the same cloaks of doubt and despair that impact their parents.

        Parents of Vigilance are aware that the Beast of Terror's goal is to infect their children, and therefore put up their Shields of Vigilance to convert feelings of Fear to Courage, to alter senses of Intimidation into states of Conviction, and to undermine their feelings of Complacency with Right Actions that benefit the Children's Children's Children.
          They adhere to the Principle of Vigilance that "As I think therefore I act, and to change my thoughts is to change my actions."
          Thus, they employ the One Percent Thought System.  They seek to find One Percent more Courageous than Fearful thoughts when under attack by Fear.   They muster One Percent more Conviction in the face of Intimidation, and One Percent more Right Actions when the shadow of Complacency dulls their desire to do what is right not just for themselves, but for their children and their Children's Children's Children.
         Parents of Vigilance know that if they wait to try to manage the Beast of Terror in a child, it may be too late.
         They are willing to sit with their children and share their own Fears, Intimidations and Complacencies about life to create a bridge of trust between themselves and their children so their children will share their "dark thoughts" with them, and seek their wisdom to overcome them.
         Adults are nothing more than mirrors of their parents, their guardians, their care givers.  When we punish an adult for "crimes against humanity" we are punishing ourselves for our own Complacency, we are trying to cover our tracks of parental mismanagement by evening the score--"an eye for an eye"--as though revenge and punishment were a source of healing, an antidote to the Crimes of Childhood Complacency.
        Few can argue that a child brought up in a loving, caring environment with proper role models who teach Courage over Fear, Conviction instead of Intimidation, and Right Actions that benefit future generations over selfish Complacency and self-sating greed, will be quite different than a child raised to be a bully, who is taught to shove and take from others what he or she wants regardless of the cost to others.
       We will put Saddam Hussein on trial for mass murder, of that there is no doubt.  The world will huddle around the television sets and pour over the newspapers and magazines, promoting "justice" for the crimes committed.
        But in the process of such revenge and gloating over "retribution" will be lost the true crime--the crime of Parental Complacency.
        We will not look in the mirror and ask ourselves:  "What are we going to do to insure the next Saddam Hussein will not appear?"  We will not point fingers at ourselves, for that would suggest that the revenge we seek against Saddam begins with convicting ourselves of Parental Complacency.

            The Principles of Vigilance assume that we are all parents of all children, not just our own.   If we subscribe to being a "Parent of Vigilance" we automatically concern ourselves not only with our own children, but with the Children's Children's Children.  That means we expand our parental obligations to the world at large, for none of us can be sure our Children's Children's Children won't be mothers and fathers to children in any part of the globe, in any culture.
         This also suggests that what we teach our children today will have a rippling effect a hundred years from now--at least three generations forward.    If we start now to invoke the Principles of Parental Vigilance, we will start the true process of revenge against the Beast of Terror.
        We will reduce and hopefully eliminate the fuel that feeds the Beast.  If we are able to teach our children, who teach their children, who teach their children that Fear can be countered with Courage, and Intimidation nullified by Conviction, and Complacency replaced by Right Actions that benefit future generations, the Beast of Terror will starve.
       There will no source for the Beast to suckle nutrients to feed its thirst to bully, kill, maim, hurt and abuse others.

       The great revenge against Saddam won't be his trial or death.  It will be the recognition that we, all humanity, need to strengthen our Parental Vigilance so the next Saddam will not be allowed to evolve from the womb of our Complacency.
        You can take the right step today to keep the next Saddam from evolving.   Take the Pledge of Vigilance.   The greatest punishment we can issue the Beast of Terror is to become Parents and Citizens and Loved Ones of Vigilance.