GROUND ZER0, New York, N.Y.--July 23, 2003-- The Sons of the Beast of Terror are dead.  They died as Brothers of the Beast, in a hail of blood and bullets, violently, as they lived.

     But does their death signal the end of a legacy of Terrorism, or serve as a warning to all others that the Beast can pass on to his or her siblings the venoms of Fear, Intimidation and Complacency?
     Uday and Qusay Hussein were killed in a bloody battle on Tuesday as they tried to evade U.S. troops hunting them down.   Reports suggest the man whose house they were using to hide in tipped off American officials and resulted in the 101st Airborne crack troops to surround the house and, in a fierce gun battle, kill the two heirs to Saddam Hussein's regime of Terror.
      But was the killing of the two brothers, Sons of the Beast, an end to Terrorism in a country dominated by tyranny and oppression for nearly a quarter century?   Or, was it merely a sign post that each of us needs to be Vigilant that we don't pass on to our children the seeds of tyranny and oppression that can find their way to foul fruits within the marrow of our offspring?
       Most disturbed children can trace their psychological Terrorisms back to the crib, to events that drove the child into a deep, dank, dark shell within the soul that is the haven of the Beast of Terror.
       Similarly, most unhappy, unfulfilled people, the "average" guy and gal walking down the street, trace their "screwed up" lives back to the roots of parenthood, to events or lack of them, in which the child was Terrorized by overt or covert actions from his or her parents.

       Society often scoffs at the idea an adult wants to put the yoke of his her discomfort on the shoulders of their parents, claiming that as an "adult" one should be able to shed the past and stand on one's own two feet.
        But ask anyone who is haunted by a sense of unworthiness, or self-incrimination, or self-efficacy to stand up to the mirror and not see a failure, a loser, a victim, a person robbed of life's joys and happiness's that appear the privy of others, and you will receive cold, empty stares of the wounded child who has little knowledge and experience in processing the baggage from the past.  The best they know how to do is to stuff their pain deep, and, when prodded by life's tensions, to unleash their anger, hostility, resentments upon others, including their children.
       Uday and Qusay Hussein ran with the Beast of Terror's ball.  They kicked it in other people's faces, employing rape, murder, torture and assassination to express their attitudes of life garnered from their father.   In one of many incidents, Uday beat to death his father's favorite servant for a minor infraction.   In others, the brothers oversaw the killing of tens of thousands of Kurds.
       Members of Iraq's Olympic team who did not perform well were beaten and tortured.   The Terror Brothers ruled with a free hand, whose fingers spelled out Fear, Intimidation and created  Complacency among the 23 million citizens of their nation.
       Where was the Vigilance?  Where were the Sentinels of Vigilance?
       Those of us who may want to gloat over the death of the Sons of Terror, need check our glee at the door.   There is a far more ominous issue that comes from their death, and that is the question:  "Are we, in any possible way, passing on the Rights of Terrorism to our children?"
        Despite our best efforts, most all of us do pass such rights on.   The most common source of identifying the presence of Terrorism between ourselves and our children is the statement by our children:  "My parents don't understand me."
        Our society laughs at this statement, and shrouds it as common as warts on a frog--an expected response by teenagers seeking to find distance between themselves and their hovering parents who hail from "another generation," or are out of "sync" with the "new" and "improved" way of life.

      The cleavage between parents and children, unfortunately called the "generation gap," is nothing more than a chasm of communication, deepened by the Complacency of a parent to bridge that gap with Vigilance.  It is a symbol of the parent's lack of communication to the child as a mentor, as a Sentinel of Vigilance.
       "My parents don't understand me," translates simply to:  "My parents don't really care about me."
       This statement is as frightening to a Sentinel of Vigilance as the actions of Uday or Qusay Hussein, both of whom reflected the mentoring of their father who taught them how to kill, maim and murder.
       The great cop-out of parents that their "children" are just going through a "stage" when they refuse to obey or are rebellious against parental management means the parent from the womb forward failed miserably to be a Sentinel of Vigilance.
       Even Hallmark feeds this sick symptom of Complacency.   One of Hallmark's dominate television ads today shows a mother looking at birthday cards for her daughter.  The scene cuts to her daughter arrogantly coming down the stairs and telling her mother she is going out to be with her "friends" for her birthday.  Then she spies the Hallmark card and opens it.   She reads it and then smiles at her mother lovingly and says something like:  "No, Mom, I'm going to stay here and tell you all about what's going on in my life..."  The teenager pauses and then says:  "Right after I clean up my room."
       In the background sits the father, reading the paper, dodging the scene.
       Suddenly, the scene cuts back from the fantasy to the mother looking at the Hallmark cards.  The mother beams, as though the fantasy were true, and buys the card.

      The message is:  "Hallmark cards can bridge the Gap of Terror you created by Complacency toward your daughter, and make your daughter want to share with you her inner feelings, right after she cleans her room.  All you have to do is buy the card.  Nothing more!"
       I looked upon the ad as sad commentary.   The worst of the Triads of Terrorism--Fear, Intimidation and Complacency--is Complacency.  It is the idea that we don't have to do anything to protect our children from the Beast of Terror except provide them with a good home, nice clothes, good schools and "things."
      We have little duty to their soul under these conditions.   We forget the child's soul, his or her essence as a being, depends on our ability to teach the child that we are there as their Sentinel of Vigilance, to guard and protect them from the Beast of Terror.
       This requires that we undergo Sentinel of Vigilance training.  It means we must face our Fears with Courage, challenge our Intimidations with Convictions, and banish our Complacencies with Right Actions that benefit the Children's Children's Children before we can hope to help our children overcome their own.

      It means as Parents of Vigilance, or Loved One of Vigilance, we take it upon ourselves to recognize the Beast of Terror lives within us all, and left unchecked, will try to take command of our emotions, our outlooks on life, and our belief systems.
      Uday and Qusay Hussein are but extreme examples of Terrorism unchecked, of fostering the Beast of Terror within a child so that it grows up believing the Fear, Intimidation and Complacency are the orders of the day, not the enemies of the state.
      My step-father beat my mother.  I lived in constant fear of his brutality against her, and vowed to not be like him.  But, my own anger within as a child abandoned ruled my life.  I lived in constant Fear, Intimidation and Complacency of my own Beast, praying it would not rear its head and consume me.  
      I fought long battles with my Beast, trying single-handedly to wrestle it so it wouldn't hurt me.  But it was always there, hissing in my ear:  "Failure," "Loser," "Unworthy," "Unloved," "Worthless."

      I decided to become a Father of Vigilance, and to teach my children how to stand up to their Beast of Terror, to use the Power of Vigilance to overcome their Fears with Courage, to battle their Intimidations with Convictions, and to seek to serve the Children's Children's Children with Right Actions rather than become victims of Complacency where they followed the crowd or turned over their rights of dissent to others.
      The deaths of Uday and Qusay Hussein make me sad.  I am sad because I realize many people will think they represent Terrorism, when the truth is that it was the Parents of Terrorism who passed those vile and corrupt twists of human nature down to their children, and didn't take the responsibility to stop them from passing from Toddler Beasts to Teen-Age Beasts to Adult Beasts.
      The parent who is too busy to spend time with his or her children, or, who tells a child to "shut up," or, who goes to Hallmark to buy a birthday card in hopes that the card might heal the wounds of Complacency in some magical moment of revelation, is just as dangerous as Saddam Hussein.
      The degree of Terrorism may be different.   The parent who is not schooled in Vigilance may chalk up a child's rejection of them as a "stage" in development, but in truth, the child is learning how to distance himself or herself from his or her own children.
     Unhappy adults were unhappy children.
     Parents who feel a wall between themselves and their children are teaching their children to build walls between themselves and their children--all from Complacency, from the lack of Vigilance.
     Unfortunately, Vigilance takes effort.

    It means a parent must share with a child his or her own Fears, Intimidations and Complacencies, and show the child that dealing with them is an effort, but one worthy of the challenges.   It means a parent and child must learn to share their "inner selves" with one another, with the parent being the first to offer his or her inner feelings so the child feels safe in exposing his or hers.
     Just talking about the bogeymen of life is often an easy start.  What are we all afraid of?   How about being liked?  Being loved?   Being accepted? 
     Children are smart creatures.
     They know you can't buy their trust or love with a Hallmark card.
     You earn it with Vigilance.
     So, as we look at the deaths of Uday and Qusay, we need to step back and study the mirror of our own lives and ask ourselves:  "Am I, in part, Saddam Hussein?  Am I fostering Vigilance or Terrorism in my children?"
     Regardless of your answer, if you haven't yet, take the Pledge of Vigilance below and print it.  Sign it.  Hang it on your refrigerator or put it in your wallet to refer to often  And try and live by the Principles of Vigilance.
     If you do that, your Children's Children's Children will thank you.
    

July 22--To Thine Children's Children's Children Be True

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