GROUND ZERO, New York City, Feb. 11--Two American and one Russian space explorer are circling the earth at 17,163 miles per hour at an altitude of 241 miles watching the world press toward war.  They can see the Beast of Terror stalking the earth, lifting his head and growling warnings that mankind may not have advanced that far from its caves and clubs and thirst to bash each others brains into mush.  But they have their own Beast of Space Terror to worry about too.

      The three astronauts, Commander Ken Bowersox, Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin and Science Officer Don Petit, are battling with the problem of returning home safely.  They, and the 100,000 support staff in Russia and America's space programs, are busy figuring a way to get to terra firma without burning up in the process.  
       The astronauts have been circling the earth for 79 days and ten hours as of this writing, part of Expedition Six, a joint U.S.-Russian effort to build stepping stones into space.  During the 11-week assignment, they've seen the Korean conflict grow, the Columbia Space Shuttle burn up on reentry, and the massing of 100,000 warriors on the borders of Iraq, eager to oust Saddam Hussein from power  Politically, they've heard about France and Germany shunning support for the U.S. as "Global Terrorist Policeman,"  and the Franco-German secret plan to upstage the U.S. by installing 2,000 weapons inspectors in Iraq.  But these earthly issues certainly take a second seat to their primary one--survival.
       This past Tuesday a Russian Progress unmanned resupply ship docked to the station's Zvezda service module.  It delivered a ton of food, fuel, clothing and other supplies to hold the crew over.  Space shuttle launches have been halted until investigators can determine the cause of the Columbia disaster.  Shuttle flights were used to bring new crews and to extract retiring ISS crews.

           I find it ironic that modern civilization has advanced its cooperation and technology to conquer the first steps into space by the joining of two former enemies.   And, at the same moment that we reach into space as a unified body, the gravity of our human defects turns us into primal beasts once again, willing to bash one another's brains out with  the Clubs of War.  
        I view the Space Station and Shuttle astronauts as Celestial Sentinels of Vigilance.  Their combined mission, in my Vigilant opinion, has the far-reaching goal of protecting the Children's Children's Children security in the future. They are building a celestial bridge over which future generations will travel, explore, colonize and expand.  They are opening the gates to Brave New Worlds yet to conquer.
        Reality forces us to look far into the future to protect our children and their offspring.   Our battles on earth over the limitation of both nuclear and biochemical weapons of mass destruction are necessary as part of the children's future security.   Errant use of these weapons of mass destruction(WMD) could unleash devastation upon us all. 

      And despite the politics over whether America has a right to be the Terrorism Policeman or not, few would agree that unless rogue nations are stopped before they can grow their WMD arsenal's, the threat of nuclear or biochemical disaster expands and becomes critical.   The world cannot afford to stand by and let such arsenals fall into the hands of those who would use them or sell them for their own personal gain.
       Pakistan is one prime example.   In the The New Yorker magazine, a telling article was recently published on how Pakistan has exported nuclear arms support to North Korea over the past years, selling its knowledge under the table for hard currency to a nation who has the reputation to use whatever WMD it can to gain recognition, and, if it needs hard currency, is very capable of selling them to the highest bidder with little concern for how they will be used, or against whom.
       Mother Earth is under constant threat as the WMD fall into more and more hands that don't subscribe to Vigilance but are bent on Terrorism as a means of managing their power.   The victims of these WMD's misuse will be the Children, for it is always the Children who suffer the most in any war.
       Space exploration is our escape route from those who might endanger the earth and all living creatures upon it.
       Assuming we don't destroy ourselves over the ensuing years in a nuclear or biochemical holocaust, we face another form of Terrorism--the lack of space to live in peace and harmony as our global population expands.

     The world is now 6 billion strong and growing  inversely.   By 2050 the world is expected to have 9-10 billion people fighting for its real estate.  Smaller nations seeking power over larger ones for basic resources will use whatever power they have at their disposal to gain such territory.   All wars are over real estate in the end. In its "best case" scenario, the United Nations projects 25 billion people by 2145, less than three generations from now.  
       Where will all the people fit?  
       Some population pundits believe that war will reduce the numbers.  They suggest holocausts caused by human hands in the form of nuclear or biological disasters will halt the growth of humanity.  In the past disease and famine helped check population, but science and medicine have conspired to expand the average age of life and the numbers who live it.
       Space then becomes more important than ever.  Its vast real estate offers new homelands.
       Finding new worlds as our forefathers and foremothers did hundreds of years ago when they sailed the seas in search of the unknown is a legacy that destiny dictates we follow.  
       In their catbird seat some 250 miles above earth, the astronauts can see the future more clearly than anyone.  They live in a 178,594-pound "home in the stars," with about 1,800 square feet of livable habitat, the size of an average three-bedroom American home.  They can see earth teeming with people and vast stars and planets waiting for us to visit

       While the International Space Station (ISS) is crude by modern living standards, it can't be much different than a covered wagon was for a family in search of new territory, or too far distant from a cave 40,000 years ago when Neanderthals roamed the land, launching the elements of a language and starting to fashion tools that would lead to the wheel, the light bulb and nuclear power and now, a proliferation of WMD that threaten us all if left unchecked, unmanaged.

      The ISS is our star in the sky--our Celestial Sentinels of Vigilance.   Despite the Terrorism on earth, the ISS shines in the sky, a signpost to worlds that beg to be explored.
        What's happening on earth today--the Battle With The Beast Of Terrorism--will only worsen as we grow in size unless it is thwarted.  Those who want to wait until disaster strikes before we attack the roots of Terrorism need to look at the population explosions and rethink their reluctance to be offensive against those who might use or develop weapons of mass destruction.  
        The most vulnerable target for Terrorists today is our cities.
        Today, global populations gather about the city.   This link will take you to a site that lists all cities in the world with populations of 1,000,000 or more.  (http://www.citypopulation.de/Country.html?E+World)  There are 408 cities listed, the most populated being Tokyo with 3.5 million, New York, 2.1, Seoul, 2.1, Mexico City, 2.0, Sao Palo, 1.9 and Bombay, 1.8 million.
         Big cities are big targets.   Globally, nearly 50 percent of the population lives in or near a city.  The United Nations Population Division reports that in 2000, 2.9 billion people represented "urban population."   By 2030 that number is expected to rise to 5 billion, 60 percent of the total world population.  In 1950, for example, "megacities," cities with populations of 10 million or more, was limited to one--New York City.  Today, there are 17 megacities, including Tokyo, Sao Paulo, Mexico City, New York and Bombay.
         Disbursing our Children into rural space reduces the risk of humanity's demise as a result of errant warfare.  Terrorists target major cities to inflict the most damage on a society.   When the door opens to space, the pressure will be released on where we can go to avoid the threats of Terrorist attack. Space will offer a limitless resource for our Children's Children's Children.  Our great great grandchildren may have a fighting chance to survive any attack on earth from within.
         Three generations is not a long way.   It means a child born today will probably live until he or she is 85.5, the life expectancy the U.N. claims will be worldwide in a hundred years.  That means the child today will live to see his or her grandchildren and great grandchildren grow.  

      It also means a child today will see the earth shrink, and living space become more precious, and water more scarce, and food harder to get.   Over that period, if the U.N. projections for 2145 are correct, the child born today's great great grandchildren will have four times as many people as today vying for food, water and shelter.   It means more people will want to take what others have, and the odds of more Terrorism to grow.
        But if the doorway to space is expanded at the same time, and the path is paved so that explorers find ways to open new worlds to settlement, the Children's Children's Children will not be crushed by their neighbors.  They will have the choice to move to the far reaches of the universe as their ancestors did on earth and launch new societies and new ways of living with one another.
         The three men in the Space Station, and all who preceded them, plus the seven valiant explorers lost in the Columbia disaster, are the valves on the population pressure cooker.  They release the steam of a world that can grow so large it bursts at the seams.
         And, most importantly, the space explorers have the opportunity to learn how to control the Beast of Terror before they leave earth in search of New Worlds.
        To me, that's the key to space.
        We have the ability as evolving beings to learn to chain the Beast of Terror to the earth as we leave its grip in search of New Worlds.
        If Terrorism has a positive side, it is to remind us all that no matter how civilized we might think we are, until we recognize and accept that Fear, Intimidation and Complacency must be managed as ferociously as we are trying to manage WMD, we can ill afford to seed the universe with the Beast of Terror.  If we do, we will have learned nothing from our parent--Mother Earth.

       In the 1.5 million years of human development we have learned there is a difference between a Beast and a human being.     That difference is measured by our empathy and compassion for human life.  It is our ability to give our lives so others may live.  It is our imaginations and our beliefs in a Supreme Being that allows our differences to be set aside for a common good, a common goal that is larger than ourselves.
       Beasts will eat their own if they are hungry.  Beasts will eat the children of other Beasts.  Beasts will survive at any cost and not cry over the death of another Beast, wishing that someday it will learn not to use violence against another Beast.
       Beasts do not concern themselves with anything but foraging for food.   They do not create music to lull their primal nature, or pontificate on their existence in a quest to understand who and why they are.   They do not engage themselves in council as we have in the United Nations, seeking peaceful harmonious ways to live alongside one another yet retaining our differences.   Beasts rule by sheer power, taking over by force the weak.  Even a tree will fight to grow so strong its shade will deprive seedlings of sunlight so the seedling doesn't rise up and take away its sunlight.
      We must leave our Beast of Terror behind us, or, leash it in a cage as we explore space for the answers to our future.    To achieve that we must vow to fight the Beast of Terror in our thoughts and deeds.   We must see the Beast of Terror as the great Weapon Of Mass Destruction, for the Beast's Fear, Intimidation and Complacency is the source of all our ills.
       We must neutralize the formula for Terrorism within ourselves before the world has any hope of growing into peace and harmony.  The only way to achieve this is to counter Terrorism with a formula greater than it.  
       The Vigilance Formula achieves that goal:  Courage(Cg) minus Fear, plus, Conviction(Cv) minus Intimidation, plus Right Actions(RAs) for the Children's Children's Children minus Complacency equals Vigilance(V!). 
                       (Cg - F + Cv - I + RAs - Cmp = V!)
       
        Above us, traveling at 17,163 miles per hour is an International Space Station.  The three men inside it who are busy figuring out ways for us to explore space are Parents of Vigilance, Citizens of Vigilance, Loved Ones of Vigilance.   Each man and woman who came before them from all walks of life,  know the great vastness of space offers the world and its children, and their Children's Children's Children hope that far exceeds any one might think possible on earth.

 Earth today is still in the caves.   The population of earth has miles to go to reach the point where living peacefully with one another can be guaranteed.  And, with the advent of Terrorism, plus easy access to WMD, any hope for peace and prosperity has been reduced.
        No longer can we count on the agreement of a nation to stand as a sign of peace.   The agreement for peace must be brought down to the citizens of the world, for a Terrorist knows no loyalty to a nation, only to his or her cause.
       Once, Terrorism might have been the threat of nations against nations. Today, it is microscopic--people to people.
       To assure our safety on this earth, we must all make a vow while stuck to the gravity which holds us in place that we, the Mothers and Fathers, the Grandparents, Uncles, Aunts, Brothers and Sisters, Cousins, Nephews and Nieces must be the Vigilant Ones.  We must be the Terrestrial Sentinels of Vigilance while our Celestial Sentinels of Vigilance figure out how to map the universe so we can travel on their roads to worlds we can seed with Vigilance not Terrorism.
       Above us flies three such Celestial Sentinels.
       If we keep our eyes to the stars we have added reason to take the Pledge of Vigilance.   If we learn today how to keep the Beast of Terror constrained, we will be ready to explore space.
      But until we do, until we stand up to Terrorism as a body of Parents of Vigilance, the universe does not want us to spread our Beasts in space.  

     The universe will deny us access.  It will burn up all our spaceships to keep us away.
      But if the universe sees us managing our Beasts of Terror, leashing them to tethers so they cannot get free, then the Gates to Heaven will open.
      Vigilance will be ours.

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Feb 10.--United Nations Of Complacency