GROUND ZER0, New York, N.Y.--Nov. 26, 2003-- More than four-and-a-half  million Americans will be body searched today as airport screeners roust their belongings and persons for knives, nail clippers, scissors, guns, bombs and even their shoes in case they may be bent on trying to light them and set off an explosion mid-flight.

       Terrorism and Turkeys mix and match today.  Some of us, if not careful, may be eating the Beast of Terror instead of what almost became our national symbol.
       Thanksgiving is a reminder to all of us--those who fly and those who don't--how close we are to the Beast of Terror's Battle Zone.  In fact, he may slink up and replace the turkey on the dinner table tomorrow.
       The truth is, the Beast, or perhaps best put, the Turkey of Terrorism, hunkers on our doorstep.   Just ask the Thanksgiving travelers.
       The nearly five million parents, children, grandparents, and singles flying today to be near loved ones for this Day of Thanks are being searched as though they were about to enter a high-security prison.   Those searching them can't take a chance they may not be Terrorists, so everyone is suspect.
        And, this Thanksgiving holiday is an opportunistic time for Terrorism to strike.   Terrorism likes to unfold its vulturesque wings when people want to turn their heads from the face of the Beast, when people want to believe that the Beast "wouldn't dare."

       Who would have thought two years ago that a couple of full-loaded planes would veer off course and smash into the World Trade Center?  Or, who would have thought another plane could "bomb" the Pentagon?   Or, that another might be on its way to kamikaze itself into the White House or the Capital building?
        Terrorism is about shocking people into a world of brutal reality.  It has its nefarious goal of striking Fear, Intimidation and Complacency into those it attacks, reminding them how feeble they are to protect themselves from its wrath.
        But, the sidebar to Terrorism doesn't always read the result it seeks.  Sometimes the backlash surfaces forces far greater than the demons who unleash expect.   Since Nine Eleven, the unintended result from Terrorism has been the Birth of Vigilance.

     Vigilance is the great Thanksgiving Gift spread upon the tables not only of Americans, but those citizens throughout the world who, in the dawn of the 21st Century, are ready to sweep tyranny and oppression away from their doorsteps.

       These are the people who, for countless centuries, have lived under the Sword of Damocles waiting for it to drop on their necks if they flinch or blink or otherwise fall into disfavor of the tyrant who rules their lives, their children's lives, and their children's children's children's lives.
        Saddam Hussein is one such tyrant.   His shadow's cast fuels the revolution in Iraq; it grinds at the gums of Americans as they chew on the fear America may fail in its goal to install democracy in a land that has never enjoyed it, whose people have no concept of its true fruits or can recall flourishing in its sunshine.
       But there are other such tyrants outside Iraq.   Left unchallenged, they will continue their thirst to rule by oppression and tyranny.   They include leaders of nations that deny their people access to the "rights of Liberty," but they also include the Parents of Terrorism.
       In homes across America as well as the rest of the world, children live in constant Fear, Intimidation and ultimate Complacency that they are not loved, that they are not respected or appreciated.

      These "Parental Tyrants" are not unlike the Kim Jong Il's or Osama bin Laden's or Saddam Hussein's in the effect they have on making their children cower for fear of the whip's lash, or to shiver in the cold dank emptiness of a bed that covets the Beast of Terror's shadows.
       Nine Eleven may have brought the physical presence of Terrorism to America, but in its horror and our reaction to such horror, it unleashed a deeper concern--that we might be well to face the emotional Terrorism we create upon our children as ferociously as we try and suffocate and eradicate the physical Terror threats imposed upon our society by those who spew venom at us in the form of bombs, bullets and a constant threat to our national security.
       On this Thanksgiving Eve, it is an opportunity for each of us as Parents of Vigilance, Grandparents of Vigilance, Citizens of Vigilance and Loved Ones of Vigilance to take a deep and long look at our attitudes and outlooks toward the raising of our children.
       Do we create Terror within them?
       Do we drive our children into the caves of the Beast of Terror through our neglect, our Complacency toward our children's sense of emotional security?
       Troubled children are ripe pickings of the Beast of Terror.  The abused child creates a shell around his or her persona, and tend to live a life in the shadow of the Beast, constantly ready to whip himself or herself with the belief they are "less than" or "better than" others.    Emotional abuse of a child comes about when a parent doesn't realize or protect the child from his or her own Beast of Terror.

       A child who thinks he or she is "too fat"  or "too thin" or "not as smart as" or not as "good as" or "gifted as" or "worthy as," or any of the opposites, elevates or declinates itself into a state of Terror.
        Terror is defined as Fear, Intimidation and Complacency conspiring to make a child who evolves into an adult feel disenfranchised from others.  It creates a person who is in constant battle with his Beast of Terror and frequently loses, feeling unhappiness, sadness, emptiness and a loss of worth that is transmitted to all those who surround him or her.
       A Sentinel of Vigilance, a Parent of Vigilance, is aware of this danger, just as airport screeners are aware that the Beast of Terror might try to board a plane.    Parents of Vigilance work with their children and themselves to constantly drive Fear away with Courage, and Intimidation with Conviction, and, to instill in the child and himself or herself that the goal of providing safety and security from the Beast of Terror for the Children's Children's Children is the counterpart to Complacency.
       Complacency is the worst of the Triads of Terrorism (Fear, Intimidation, Complacency).   Some might call it Ignorance, and others may simply call it Arrogance.   Complacency is the refusal of many to accept the presence of the Beast of Terror in life, and, in so doing, refuses to apply the antidote to Terrorism--Vigilance.
        On this Thanksgiving Eve, it might be of value for all of us to review the Pledge of Vigilance, and even if we don't believe we are Terrorized by anything or anyone, to wonder if our children might be.   Or, our grandchildren.
        Terrorism can only be thwarted if we screen it daily.    While many may argue that the airport screeners searching passengers--all 4.6 million of them today--might not be effective in stopping a Terrorist, no one will disagree that the other option--Complacency--opens the door to anyone seeking to Terrorize. 

     We, the Parents of Vigilance, must start to screen our thoughts and actions for the elements of Terrorism.  When we learn to recognize and admit to our Fears, Intimidations and Complacencies, and to work with our children and loved ones on creating more Courage than Fear, more Conviction than Intimidation and to motivate our actions for the benefit of the Children's Children's Children, we will have stomped Complacency into the ground.  We will drive it away from boarding the plane with us. 
       We will have swept it from the doorstep where it now waits to eat Thanksgiving dinner with all who think it doesn't exist.
       Look carefully at the turkey being carved at the table.  It just might be the Beast of Terror in disguise.

Nov. 25--The Vigilance Platform:  What America Needs To Do To Fight Terrorism

©2001 - 2004, VigilanceVoice.com, All rights reserved -  a ((HYYPE)) design

The Pledge Of Vigilance