GROUND ZER0, New York, N.Y.--July 17, 2003-- "I'm not a superstar.  But I am the glue that holds together our team."

     That was the comment delivered to me from a close friend thinking about shifting jobs.    I had asked her if anyone she worked with knew she was leaving for another position, and what impact her absence would have.
      There was a twinge of remorse in her Voice, as though she might have thought that being the "glue" of her group of workers wasn't as glorious as being the "superstar."
       I interjected:  "You know, superstars come and go.  But the glue people stick.   They hold all the parts together.  Nothing is more important than being a glue person.  Nothing is more valuable, not even a superstar."
       She thanked me for the comment.
       I wasn't being solicitous.
       In a world often measured by who climbs to the top rung of the ladder, we often forget about the people standing below, holding the ladder stable so it doesn't fall.   We glorify the one at the top and forget about those below grunting and throwing their shoulders against the gravity of the teetering ladder, insuring that someone else rather than they can become the hero.  That hero is often the person who stands in the spotlight before it vanishes, garnering his or her "fifteen minutes of fame."   The spotlight, unfortunately, never coruscates the people holding the ladder.
       These anonymous players are the "grunt people." Often, they are the strongest of all in virtue for while many of them could climb the ladder, they elect to support it rather than mount it.  They secure it, without vainglorious attempts to reach the top and wave at the cheering throngs who hunter to extol one person for victory, unconcerned that it took virtual hundreds, or thousands for that one angel to climb upon the head of the pin.
       These people are the "glue" that binds all the pieces together.  They secure the pieces to insure the ladder is strong.  They design and construct the ladder so that it is safe to climb, and cheer on the climber without regard for their own glorification.
        Then, when the battle is over, the glue people slip back into the shadows of anonymity, never resentful they weren't at the top.  But they are forever grateful they could be the "mortar of success."
        A Parent of Vigilance is like a glue person.

       His or her job, duty, role in life, is to build the mortar between the bricks of a child's character so that the ladder the child climbs will not be weakened by the Termites of Terrorism-- those creatures of Fear, Intimidation and Complacency that gnaw at the foundations of a person's being and drive him or her into a hermit crab's shell, fearful of any shadow that appears on the horizon.
        America's current surge of political candidates for the President of the United States reminds me of the Termites of Terrorism.   Each is attacking the foundations of a Vigilance Ladder, trying to topple the leader who boldly climbed onto the parapet of Terrorism and stormed the walls virtually single handedly to send a message to all the world's Terrorists that a few nations--America, Britain, Australia and Poland, to name the few, were willing to cut the legs off the Giant of Terror.
        The expression, "It's lonely at the top," isn't quite correct.   No one gets to the top without the "glue people" standing below, scurrying around to reinforce the ladder, insuring its ability to withstand the stress and shear of all opposition trying to oppose its penetration of the Beast's Castle.
        The CIA, among other "glue people" is under attack for the "yellow cake" incident.  The "yellow cake" refers to information in the President's State of the Union Speech referencing Iraq's alleged efforts to acquire material from Niger to build nuclear weapons.
       It isn't the critique of opponents both within the United States and abroad that is disconcerting.   Slinging arrows and dung is the sad handmaiden of all politics.    What is disturbing is the lack of reference to the "glue people," the lack of recognition that it was the American popular support that backed the war in Iraq, not the "yellow cake" sixteen-word line that wormed its way into the President's speech.
       The vast majority of Americans supported the war long before the "yellow cake" comment.   If one were to look at the world from a Sentinel of Vigilance's viewpoint, the surveillance would reveal that Mothers, Fathers, Grandparents, Brothers, Sisters, Uncles, Aunts, Cousins and Loved Ones of Vigilance were sick and tired of a world without a David to fight the Goliath of Terrorism.

       The family of the United States became the glue people, holding the ladder so President Bush could climb up and face the Beast of Terror.
        It takes guts to see the future beyond the vote, especially if you are a politician.
        Those vying for the President's job are doing their best to cripple the Administration's integrity, shouting "foul" and trying to turn the Sentinel of Vigilance into the Beast of Terror, out to deceive the Mothers and Fathers, the Grandparents, Uncles, Aunts, Cousins and Loved Ones of Vigilance who supported him.
        What folly.
        Citizens of the world who care about their children's future, and their Children's Children's Children's future security, either publicly or privately hail the acts of the United States as a symbol to all Terrorists that anyone who seeks to destroy, tyrannize or oppress a society will be met with the full force of Vigilance.
        This includes West Africa, North Korea and all points in between.
        They say a politician does what is necessary to get the next vote, and a statesman does what is correct for the future regardless of the vote.

         Few people on this earth can challenge the great risk President Bush and his "glue people" took when they attacked Iraq.   The United Nations was shrinking back in its hermit crab shell, ducking its duty to protect the world as is the nature of the United Nations.   
        Dissenters marched and held up signs likening the President to Hitler, and holding effigies of his thirst for "blood for oil," as though he were the Beast.
        All Bush's critics, including his political opponents, rooted for the failure of American foreign policy to crash so that they might leap upon the broken, mangled mess and shout:  "Told you so!"
        Allied with Bush was Tony Blair, Prime Minister of Great Britain, who stood against a hailstorm of angst against the war, and endangered his political future by refusing to buckle to the dissent.  He climbed with Bush up the ladder.
         Unlike their critics, both leaders saw the future as more important than the political present.  They were both willing to risk their political lifeblood to do battle with Saddam, not just as a man, but as a symbol to all future Terrorists.
         Hissing on the heels of Saddam was Kim Jong Il, the despotic leader of North Korea who today still flaunts his nuclear weapons like a bully in the streets with a gun pointed at the heads of the innocent neighborhood children, warning all who might challenge him that he will willingly kill all the children if anyone attacks him.
          Despite Kim Jong Il's bravado, he shudders today.
          Kim looks at the death warrants on the heads of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, some $25 million, plus the full forces of a nation with the most advanced Terror-Hunting Tools nipping at the heels of these Terror bandits, and Kim Jong Il has to wonder if he really has any power when it is all said and done.   America and Great Britain have set an example that they are the "glue of Vigilance," willing to climb the ladder and storm the walls of North Korea's Castle of Terrorism and Oppression, and then sic all the hounds on Kim when he tries to escape.

           The glue for all this resolve flows up the ladder.
           It comes from average people who intuitively know the Beast of Terror will keep chewing and gnawing its way to their doorstep unless stopped.   The names of the Beast aren't as important as the goal of the Beast--to endanger the future of all, especially the children.
           But, the candidates in America vying for President seem to have missed the whole point of the war on Terrorism.  While they try to impugn the integrity of the President and his "glue staff," the people are sitting back wondering how these Termites of Terror would act in the fact of danger to their children.
          They know how the current President would act, for he is continuing to act not just for America but the world.  His thrust to grapple Terrorism into the dirt, to handcuff it and stuff it in a prison heavily guarded by Mothers, Fathers, Grandparents and Loved Ones of Vigilance, is working.
          But the critics seem blind to the big picture of Vigilance.

        Perhaps, if they took the Pledge of Vigilance, they would see how Courage is a much greater political tool to fight Fear, and how Conviction is much more palatable than Intimidation expressed by those who duck and weave away from risk.  Most importantly, they would see how Right Actions in behalf of the Children's Children's Children are a far richer source of defense against the Beast than the Complacency of Critique, which is nothing more than spitting out sour grapes.
          I would love to see all the politicians climbing the ladder of Vigilance, or, holding onto its foundations.
          Unfortunately, all I see is their Termitic Mandibles of Terrorism busily chewing on the rungs

July 16--Parents of Vigilance: Battle The Beast of Drug Terror!

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