GROUND ZER0, New York, N.Y.--June 3, 2004 -- Five days from now, exactly 7200 minutes from the time I publish this story, Ground Zero Plus 1000 will occur.
       It will pass through the arches of time with little notice to many, for they will have other things on their mind.
       I don't.
       For the past 995 days, a total of 1,432,800 minutes, I have relived the horror and the glory of the Terrorist attack on September 11, 2001.
       The horror was the crippling loss of innocent lives, and the pain and suffering inflicted upon the loved ones of those who perished.   The glory is the legacy of Courage, Conviction and Right Actions for the Children's Children's Children that the deaths of 2,749 recorded "victims" left for us all to examine.
        I haven't forgotten that 25,000 people escaped the burning World Trade Center Towers, or that both fire, police and average citizens were responsible for the saving of countless lives, some who offered theirs so that others could live. 

       Nor have I erased the glory of watching people holding hands as they plummeted to the earth from nearly a quarter mile high, a symbol of the unity of human beings even in the face of death.

        Or, how when I was standing a few blocks from the burning buildings looking up, how each who leapt from the holocaust of fire and smoke fell downward in such a manner as to appear like a dove, a paraclete, diving with wings snugged back to accelerate itself, legs together as though soaring toward the eternity of death with a swansong, aerobatic beauty as the living watching gasped.
        I also know I am not alone in the memories of that day, and do claim propriety over any emotional pain that recalling those moments bring to me.    I find it difficult to join groups of survivors who want to express their pain and suffering, to share their grief and fractured souls with other fractured souls, and elect instead, to write about that day in memoriam, to legendize it as best I can with solutions to fighting the Beast of Terror rather than with antibiotics to stave off its current attack.  
        I know the Beast will return, that the Beast never left.
        I know the Beast is Within, hiding in all our Fears, Intimidations and Complacencies, doing push-ups, sizing us up for that day he will leap out of the bushes and snare us in his claws and fangs, or our children, or our loved ones.
        So know the Terrorists.  They feed off our frailty, our human defects that make us cower in the shadow of threats, rendering us impotent to feel we can fight back, and eager to turn over the responsibility to protect ourselves, our families, our neighborhoods, communities, states and nations to government, who, in the final analysis, in the most simplistic of terms, only represent us, the citizens, the mothers, fathers, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins.
        That's why we must not succumb to the Complacency of abdicating our duty to ourselves, our families, our children, our loved ones, and those who comprise our world.

       Vigilance is a natural duty, not something that can be assumed is the duty of any governmental body, whether it be the local fire and police, even the Homeland Security Department.
        To fight Terrorism, we must fight Fear, Intimidation and Complacency in our minds, in our acts, in our homes, and most importantly, in the framework of our children's thinking.
        We can only achieve this by recognizing the Duty of Vigilance is a personal responsibility, and a parental one.   This Duty of Vigilance includes taking the Pledge of Vigilance, whether it is the one below, or one you draft for yourself that incorporates the Principles of Vigilance.
        These Principles are that we can neutralize the Beast Within by developing the skills to trump Fear with One Percent more Courage, to increase our Conviction by One Percent more than our Intimidation in any situation, and to not fall into the quagmire of Complacency but rather force ourselves to take the Right Actions that don't just benefit ourselves, but benefit the Children's Children's Children.

       The thousands who died on Nine Eleven, are not buried.

       They hover over Ground Zero, hand-in-hand, reminding us to be Vigilant, whispering in our ear-- "Semper Vigilantes" --Always Vigilant.
        As the 1000th Day of Vigilance approaches, take a stand against Terrorism.  

        Take the Pledge of Vigilance

June 1--Memorial Terrorism Day

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