GROUND ZER0, New York, N.Y.--April 1, 2004 -- The Widows of September 11, 2001, are being credited with forcing the President of the United States and his staff to kneel before the public's request to answer the question:  "Why Did Our Loved One's Die On Nine Eleven?"
      In today's New York Times, reporter Sheryl Gay Stolberg details a legacy of how a handful of dedicated wives dogged Senators and Congressmen to answer the question:  "Why did our husbands die."
     It is the story of how a few people can change the outlook of a nation, of how elephants can be brought to their knees by ants.

    Pressing for the hearings, the women used everything from baked cookies to slipping into elevators with Senators on Capital Hill to pressure them to not sweep the issue of "Who Is Responsible" under the rug.
     Today, the President has agreed to talk to the commission investigating the question "why," and offered his staff to be grilled.   The pressure forcing this confrontation between the Executive and Legislature sides of government comes from the Mothers of Vigilance, the Widows of Vigilance.
      One of the wives put it simply:  "We just want to know why our husbands didn't come back from work that day."
       I am amazed sometimes at the power of a single quest to uncover and discover truths.  
       Sadly, the answers being sought at the White House Level, and any blame or fault issued from opinion or fact as a result of such investigations, will be worthless and useless.   People seeking to find fault in others miss the point.
       These Mothers of Vigilance needn't look to Washington to seek vengeance or place blame, they need to look in the mirror.

       Where were the Mothers of Vigilance prior to Nine Eleven?   Had they turned over the protection of their home and children and their husbands to the winds?   Did they stop keeping a Vigilant Eye on the safety of the Children's Children's Children?
         The true investigation into the problem of Terrorism needs to begin in the 100 million households of each American's home.  It begins with a search for a Pledge of Vigilance, a vow to fight Terrorism at every corner, a vow to protect the Children's Children's Children from the deep, dark shadows of Fear, Intimidation and Complacency.
         Vigilance is about looking ahead to the protection of the Children's Children's Children, not backward into the shadows of the past where only blame and history collects dust.
          There is little spoken about in these committee hearings about the children, or what needs to be undertaken to better protect them.    The reason for the absence of such discussion is that the duty for such a charge falls upon the shoulders of the Parents of Vigilance, not the government.  And, the blame for a society weak in Vigilance does not teeter on the precarious balance of government, but within the knot of the family.  If the family's knot is weak, frayed by Complacency or Abdication of Vigilance, the government has little role or responsibility to defend the family from Terror.
          Families protect themselves first.  If they are Vigilant Families, they do not wait for government to respond to the demands of safety and security for their children and their Children's Children's Children.
          Why didn't the women who stirred the pot to find out answers after the attack rally the same forces to dig up the graves of the dead prior to Nine Eleven?   Why didn't they use the grass-roots power of Mothers of Vigilance to demand government to question its protection before the fact, not after it?     

        Once blood is spilled, everyone seeks to smear it on someone else rather than on their own hands.  But what about before the fact?
          If a Mother of Vigilance is truly concerned about answering the question "Why?" the Terrorists slipped through the gates that fateful day of September 11, 2001, she needs to look in the mirror and ask:  "What was I doing that day to fight the Beast of Terror?"
          On the surface, the Widows of Nine Eleven represent to many housecleaners.   They want the alleged "truth" to be boiled to the surface, and, whomever appears to be most at fault to be boiled in the Truth's broth.   
          They are demanding that the tip of the iceberg, the top of the triangle, be held responsible for the base of the triangle, for the iceberg's true mass that lies 98 percent uncovered, hidden from view.
          They forget they are that base.   We all are.  I am no more or less at fault than they.  As a Father of Vigilance, a Grandfather of Vigilance, a Husband of Vigilance, a Citizen of Vigilance, a Brother of Vigilance, an Uncle of Vigilance, a Loved One of Vigilance, I have as much fault as the Widows of Nine Eleven for not shouting out the need for Vigilance prior to Nine Eleven.
           But, I cannot afford to ask government to account for its faults, without first demanding the fault of the people be brought to the surface and exposed for what it is.   What we need is a public investigation into why we are not all signing the Pledge of Vigilance, and why we, the people, still haven't assumed the duty and responsibility of battling Terrorism in our own homes.

        The smashing of the planes into the Twin Towers and Pentagon, and the one that crashed in Pennsylvania, were symbols not of what we did wrong, but what we need to do right.    We, the people, need to defend our nation with our Vows of Vigilance, one by one, linked together, to drive away the Beast of Terror.
          This is the real legacy we need to leave our children.
          And what the Widows of Nine Eleven have done to spark the investigation of the past, needs to be done to investigate the present, and to ignite the desire to become a Nation of Vigilance, ruled not by government but by Parents and Citizens of Vigilance who seek only one goal:  the protection of the Children's Children's Children.
      

Mar. 31--Celebrating Life After Death

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