GROUND ZER0, New York, N.Y.--July 30, 2003-- I got excited when I spotted the Grandparents University.   For a minute, I thought it was a giant step toward protecting the Children's Children from the Beast of Terror.
     I was wrong.
     The agenda for the recently graduated third-annual Grandparents University (GU) attendees at the University of Wisconsin leap-frogged over the issue of Vigilance vs. Terrorism, or how to fight Fear with Courage, battle Intimidation with Conviction, and most importantly, how to take the Right Actions for the Children's Children's Children so the Beast of Complacency doesn't eat the marrow out of the bones of future Sentinels of Vigilance.
      The 2003 class at the University of Wisconsin includes 250 people, 116 grandparents and 130 grandchildren ranging from age 7 to 14 and representing 15 states.   The two-day agenda included

     But, there was no Terrorism on the list.  

     Obviously, the U of W is much more interested in getting the alumni to sell the grandkids on going to the University than in selling the grandkids on becoming Sentinels of Vigilance, warriors geared to fight the Beast of Terror who lurks in the shadows of every generation, waiting to leap upon the unsuspecting, the unaware, the ill-prepared.
      I just got excited about Grandparents and Grandkids allegedly "bonding" over a two-day period, when the goal is to pass the wisdom's of life from one generation to another.
      To me, the greatest wisdom a Grandparent can pass to a grandchild is that of Vigilance, especially the elements of Vigilance:  Courage, Conviction and Right Actions for future generations.
       I scratch my head sometimes, wondering why the primary purpose of being a Parent or Grandparent isn't proscribed by law as teaching their progeny how to be Sentinel of Vigilance, for the single most pervasive enemy threatening the security of all children is Terrorism.
       Emotional Terrorism.
       Emotional Terrorism is the Fear, Intimidation and Complacency that weaves its way through the thread of a human being's personality and causes him or her to sit on life's sidelines rather than compete in life's games.

       A child who thinks he or she is too fat, too thin, too poor, too ugly, too unloved, too uncared for, will shrink into the Beast of Terror's shell, and hide in the darkness of self-defeat, self-incrimination that will stalk him or her throughout life.   Then, of course, there are the children who are victims of abuse, both physical as well as emotional.    The child whose parent shouts:  "I wish you were never born!," or "Quit bothering me," or "Leave me alone" is perhaps just as brutal as the parent who beats or molests a child, for in both cases the child is being assaulted and violated, one my physical force, the other by word force.
       I didn't see any of those subjects on the agenda at the U of W.
       But I am aware of a growing concern in America and other industrial nations.   Of the 72.3 million children under the age of 18, 4.5 million live with grandparents.   That's 6.3 percent of all the children under 18, living not with parents, but grandparents.  And, that number is rising.

       Wisdom comes from experience, some good and some bad.   A child's ability to gain wisdom from a grandparent is vast.   A child, representing 70 plus years of life, his or her parents representing 70 plus years of life, and grandparents, adding yet another 70 years of life, represent a total of 210 years minimum of experience.  If you include both parents and both grand parents:  Child =70, two parents=140, two grandparents=140, you're up to 350 years of experience.
         That's a lot of experience, especially when life is mostly all about learning how to manage one's Fear, Intimidation and Complacency with Courage, Conviction and Right Actions for future generations.
         I guess I'd like to see the Vigilance Grandparents University.
         I'd love to see the curriculum filled with how to become a Sentinel of Vigilance, for no college degree can defend a child from the shadow of the Beast when it attacks.
         Maybe it's time to teach children how to battle their most common enemy, the one their grandparents battled for two generations--the elements of Terror--Fear, Intimidation and Complacency.
         My suggestion is to offer such graduates a Pledge of Vigilance diploma.  And to change the name to the Grandparents University of Vigilance.
      

July 29--The Terrorism Betting Pool

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