GROUND ZERO, New York City, Feb. 22--It's the tail wagging the dog.   It's the cart before the horse.   It's the Beast of Terror laughing in the face of Sentinels of Vigilance.
      I shake my head in dismay.

   One hundred U.S. cities have passed resolutions in their city councils against an impending war in Iraq.  The largest and latest of these community dissenters is Los Angeles.  Yesterday the city council voted 9-4 opposing a unilateral war against Iraq and calling on President Bush to employ all diplomatic options to deal with the crisis.
      About 300 anti-war demonstrations cheered outside city hall as the council voted in the resolution that alleges to speak for the majority of the 3.7 million residents of Los Angeles.
      One anti-war demonstrator, Fred Greissing, carried his 9-year-old son.  Both were dressed in ripped clothing, bandages and splattered with fake blood.   Greissing said:  " I think that today there are two superpowers.  One is the United States and the other is public opinion.  I hope my feeble theatrical display might just save some Iraqi child a broken arm, third-degree burns or death."

       I am not bothered by the demonstrations.   I love them.   They represent the poles of Freedom.  They are the roots of democracy for they illustrate the power of Free Speech and the right to dissent.
      What disturbs me about the resolution is the neglect and indifference expressed by civic leadership for Vigilance of  Los Angeles along with other cities and counties such as Philadelphia, Chicago and Detroit who passed similar anti-war resolutions.
       Opposing war at the 11th Hour is a little late to be speaking in behalf of the children of Iraq, or the children of any nation.    It is like running half-way up a hill to stop a boulder crashing down toward the town below, when, for months and years everyone saw the huge rock teetering on the edge of the cliff above and no one bothered to do anything.

      I am angered that America and the world is not screaming for Vigilance rather than cheering on Complacency.   Anti-war protestation on the eve of destruction feeds the Beast of Terror's hunger for turning Fear and Intimidation into Complacency.  It wants to rip and shred the credibility of actions of a nation into twisted purposes so the children of nations who threaten the Beast of Terror's lair will turn against their country, its leaders, its mission and burn its flag, decry its long history of standing up against the bullies of the world.
      America is unique in its ability to give its blood for the preservation or proliferation of democracy around the world.   No other nation in history has sent as many of its young to die for other countries with no expectation of conquest.   France and Germany are two prime examples.  Today, they spit in America's face and turn their backs against the United State's single-handed efforts to present a blocking force against Terrorism--the same ilk that once enslaved France and turned Germany into a Beast of Terror bent on gobbling up the world under the Hitlarian principle of "Deutschland Uber Alles!"
      America, in my opinion, is acting as a Global Parent of Vigilance, not as an oppressive force seeking to dominate the world and forcing others to live under its rule and leadership.

      U.S. policy against Terrorism is setting the stage for snuffing out tyranny and despotism that seeks to export its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) to others, and to rule not only their nations but as many as they can gobble up with Fear, Intimidation and Complacency.
      Unfortunately, America's leadership is not asking each citizen to become a Parent of Vigilance.  It is not asking each city to endorse the Principles of Vigilance, or to issue proclamations that they are Communities of Vigilance.
      If Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago and Detroit, as well as the nearly hundred other U.S. cities want to demonstrate against the war in Iraq, then issuing votes in favor of their citizens becoming Parents of Vigilance and offering the members of America's 100 million households Pledges of Vigilance is a far more pro-active approach to quashing the Beast of Terror than throwing rocks at glass houses.
      I'm sure Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden and Kim Jong Il are dancing in delight over resolutions passed by cities that, like France and Germany, refute America's unilateral right to stand and fight the Beast of Terror while others bury their heads in hopes negotiating with the Beast will assuage fears it will grow and threaten others.

      I also think of the father carrying his nine-year-old boy and teaching the child the importance of protecting the children of Iraq from Terrorism.  That part I buy with all my heart.  Nothing is more important for a child to learn than the duty and responsibility to protect all children from harm, no matter who they are, or what culture they belong to. 
      What I do wonder about is whether Fred Greissing has taught his son about the Beast of Terror Within?  I wonder if he has taken the Pledge of Vigilance and signed his own personal petition to fight the Beast of Terror in his own home by going to face-to-face with his son's Fears, Intimidations and Complacencies by sharing his own with his son?
      I wonder if he has examined his own life and ferreted out the Beast Within himself?  Has he rooted out his own temptations to tell his son, "I'm too busy," or "Don't bother me now," or, whether his son is reticent to share with his father his Fear of the darkness, concerned his father might consider him a "sissy" because 9-year-old boys aren't "supposed to be" afraid of the dark?
      I wonder if Mr. Greissing has talked to his neighbors who abuse their children through neglect or sheer physical assault on their being, or does he turn his head to the problem and pretend it doesn't exist, or, tell his son that it's "none of their business?"   Or, does he dress in bandages with fake blood splattered about him and hold his son in his arms in front of the neighbor's house in protest to the Terrorism that exists within.

     If Mr. Greissing is an activist, does he go to his local community meetings and raise issues about the Beast of Terror within the community--his neighborhood--and present to them solutions to fighting the Fear, Intimidation and Complacency that settles into parents so busy making mortgage payments and struggling to keep their heads above water that their children feel the need to bury themselves in MTV or devour violent television shows that suggest the only way to "be somebody" is to fight the "system" that seeks to oppress them?   
      I wonder how many broken bones there are in Mr. Greissing's neighborhood from parents who hit their children versus those in Iraq?
      How many children shudder when they enter their homes for fear they might incite their parents' wrath, and be called names or feel they are unloved and uncared for because they are intruding on the sanctity of their parent's privacy?
      Terrorism has many faces.
      It shines the brightest in the mirror.
      But does this mean Mr. Greissing is wrong in protesting against Iraq? 

      Not at all.   It is his right under the democracy of America, but it isn't the right of an Iraqi child.  If an Iraqi father were to carry his child in bandages and splattered with fake blood to Saddam Hussein's palace and cry out for the state to stop oppressing the citizens of Iraq, what would be the lot of Mr. Greissing in that scenario.  Would he be able to walk home peacefully with his son?  Or, might the bandages turn real, and fake blood flow real?
       Mr. Greissing's concern is for the children of Iraq.  But what about their Children's Children's Children?  Do they have rights too?   Are there benefits for the future generation that outweigh the benefits of the current one?   Do we sacrifice the present status quo for a better life in the future, or, do we leave things as they are in hopes they will get better?
       What is it we teach our children?
       Vigilance says we teach them Courage in the face of Fear, Conviction against the shadow of Intimidation, and Right Actions for the Children's Children's Children when we smack up against the Wall of Complacency.
        Terrorism teaches us to shy from fighting the Beast of Terror, to remain with one foot nailed to the ground.  To hope things will change instead of changing them.
        Yes.  I would like to see the cities of America turn to the question of Vigilance before they attack the question of war.  

        Vigilance is the dog not the tail of the issue.
        Vigilance is the watchdog of war.
        Until Mr. Greissing and other Citizens of Vigilance look into the mirror and face the Beast of War, they best keep their bandages and fake blood at home where they will learn the roots of Terrorism.
        Those roots aren't buried in the actions of the United States in its challenge of the Beast of Terror in Iraq.  They are under the foundation of the houses of parents like Mr. Greissing.
      
      

Feb 21.--Terrorism's Attack On Heart Transplant Victim