FEAR
OF
A
TERRORIST
MOUSE
July
26,
2004
STORY
SUMMARY:
So
what
do
we
do
when
we
face
a
one-ounce
Terrorist
in
our
home,
skulking
about
at
will,
invading
our
privacy,
threatening
the
safety
and
security
of
our
peaceful
abode?
We
scream!
We
panic!
And
we
learn
that
Complacency
is
our
worst
enemy.
GROUND
ZERO,
NEW
YORK,
New
York,
July
26,
2004--One
wouldn't
think
a
tiny
mouse
could
become
a
vicious
Terrorist
running
from
one
"spider
hole"
to
another,
but
that's
exactly
the
case,
at
least
in
our
apartment.
We've
been
invaded
by
a
furry
little
rodent
with
a
will
to
live
that
is
stronger
than
any
trap
or
the
ingenuity
of
those
with
"mouse
phobia."
My
wife
and
younger
daughter
are
mouse
screamers.
When
they
see
the
little
rodent's
gray
body
and
long
tail
scooting
along
the
baseboards,
loud
screeches
wail
from
some
primordial
ooze
of
Fear,
Intimidation
and
Complacency,
as
though
they
had
looked
directly
upon
the
face
of
the
Beast
of
Terror.
The
irony
of
their
fear
or
phobia
is
that
both
are
strong
women.
My
wife
comes
from
strong
Germanic
stock
and
has
faced
many
forms
of
terror
in
her
life,
including
three
different
types
of
cancer.
To
anyone
looking
in,
they
would
say
she
is
a
strong
woman,
fearful
of
nothing.
Then
there
is
our
younger
daughter.
She
is
fearless
too
about
many
things--especially
life
and
death.
She
works
as
a
federal
special
agent,
packs
two
9mm
Glocks,
and
spends
most
of
her
time
hunting
down
the
"bad
guy"
in
the
most
dangerous
of
places.
Many
times
she
has
looked
down
the
barrel
of
her
weapon
at
someone
who
would
just
as
soon
shoot
her
as
go
to
jail.
But,
when
it
comes
to
mice--ah--that's
another
story.
All
the
resources
of
Courage,
Conviction
and
Right
Action--the
tools
of
Vigilance--crumble
when
the
beady
eyes
of
a
mouse
or
rat
stare
their
way,
or
when,
out
of
the
corner
of
their
vision,
they
see
the
streaking
bodies
of
the
rodent
shoveling
his
or
her
nose
along
the
floor
as
though
traveling
a
free
highway
filled
with
goodies
that
hide
behind
the
stove,
near
the
refrigerator,
or
behind
the
cabinets.
Such
a
scene
happened
just
night.
Below
our
apartment
a
major
renovation
project
is
underway.
A
tenant
who
lived
there
for
many
years
died,
and
the
apartment
is
being
gutted.
That
means
the
home
for
any
creatures
who
took
up
nesting
space
one
flight
below
is
gone,
and
the
eviction
for
the
cockroaches
and
rodents
who
once
called
the
"older
people's"
apartment
"home"
have
been
in
search
of
new
digs.
Our
apartment
has
been
chosen.
These
mice
are
not
stupid.
Despite
the
idea
of
putting
cheese
in
a
trap
and
catching
one
because
it
blunders
into
the
trap,
the
mice
below
are
of
the
higher
intelligence
echelon.
They
eat
the
cheese,
snap
the
trap,
but
escape
prosecution
for
their
crimes
of
illegal
entry
and
mouse
squatting.
This
morning
I
awoke
to
check
the
trap.
It
was
set
on
top
of
the
stove
because
the
mouse
was
discovered
by
my
wife
hiding
under
the
burners
of
our
gas
stove.
She
was
moving
something
on
the
stove
while
talking
to
our
mouse-phobic
daughter
when
she
let
out
a
horrid
scream--as
though
she
had
just
seen
some
monster
at
the
window.
It
was
only
the
mouse,
obviously
afflicted
with
a
taste
for
grease
and
warmth.
I
don't
think
I've
known
a
mouse
to
live
inside
a
gas
stove,
but
then
these
are
New
York
City
mice,
with
endless
generations
of
genetic
information
bred
into
them
regarding
how
to
avoid
capture
and
traps.
The
skill
of
avoiding
capture
for
a
mouse
is
akin
to
that
of
Osama
bin
Laden.
Terrorists
have
a
way
of
hiding
and
avoiding
all
conventions
of
modern
tracking.
Take
Teddy
Roosevelt,
for
example.
He
was
born
a
few
blocks
from
where
we
live
in
1858
and
is
renowned
as
one
of
the
great
hunters
of
our
time,
as
well
as
a
great
leader.
He
became
our
36th
President
after
the
assassination
of
President
McKinley,
the
youngest
President
in
history
at
age
43.
He
served
from
1901
until
1909
and
won
the
Nobel
Peace
Prize
for
his
efforts
to
bring
resolution
to
warring
nations.
But,
he
was
befuddled
by
mice.
The
great
hunter
faced
the
same
challenges
that
modern
21st
Century
New
Yorkers
find
perplexing--how
to
destroy
a
vermin
living
in
your
residence!
His
philosophy:
"Walk
softly
and
carry
a
big
stick"
may
have
come
from
his
attempts
to
stalk
and
eliminate
mice
in
his
New
York
home,
and
then
was
used
to
tell
the
world
that
America
wouldn't
put
up
with
any
Terrorism.
Our
current
President
has
adapted
that
statement:
"Walk
loudly
and
carry
a
giant
stick!"
But
does
that
scare
a
mouse?
Not
hardly.
A
mouse
weighs
about
a
half
to
a
full
ounce.
But
it
packs
the
punch
of
sarin
gas
in
the
hearts
of
those
who
fear
it,
such
as
my
wife
and
gun-toting,
criminal-hunting
daughter.
And,
these
New
York
mice
are
strong
and
ferocious.
Just
the
other
morning
I
awoke
and
went
into
the
kitchen
to
find
a
six-pack
of
Sprite
scattered
in
the
middle
of
the
floor.
Next
to
it
was
a
glue
trap,
one
of
those
sticky
pieces
of
paper
designed
to
snare
a
mouse.
Gingerly,
I
lifted
up
the
glue
trap
thinking
that
stuck
under
it
would
be
the
mouse.
But
no--no
mouse.
There
were
pieces
of
mouse
hair
over
the
glue
trap
where
it
had
fought
to
escape,
dragging
itself
and
the
six-pack
of
Sprite
that
sits
on
the
floor
near
the
refrigerator,
into
the
middle
of
the
kitchen.
I
was
amazed
at
the
power
of
"escape."
Here,
this
little
terrorist
was
not
to
be
caught.
He
or
she
was
much
smarter
than
we,
the
humans
who
think
we
can
protect
ourselves
from
the
invasion
of
a
cockroach
or
a
rodent,
or,
for
that
matter,
a
terrorist
bent
on
turning
us
all
(especially
my
wife
and
daughter)
into
quivering
chunks
of
Jell-O.
But
the
event
did
point
up
a
problem.
The
problem
is
that
I
got
Complacent
about
the
mice.
Instead
of
setting
traps
all
the
time
to
ward
off
a
potential
invasion,
I
thought
our
home
was
"mouse
safe."
Little
did
I
know
the
Beast
of
Mouse
Terror
was
lurking
just
an
apartment
below,
waiting
to
camp
out
in
our
home
when
the
one
below
was
gutted.
Homeland
Mouse
Security,
just
as
Homeland
Vigilance
Security,
cannot
be
left
in
the
hands
of
others.
Every
couple
of
weeks
we
have
an
exterminator
come
and
he
sets
traps.
But,
if
you
miss
him,
you
go
maybe
four
or
six
weeks,
or
even
longer
if
he
comes
and
you're
not
there
to
let
him
in.
In
the
interim,
the
mice
play
while
the
exterminator
is
away.
And
that's
where
I
fell
on
my
face.
I
am
supposed
to
be
a
Terror
Hunter,
but
instead,
I
became
a
victim
of
Complacency.
I
abdicated
the
right
of
Sentinel
of
Vigilance
to
the
mouse
hunter,
as
we
all
seem
to
be
doing
when
we
turn
the
safety
of
our
family,
our
neighborhood,
our
community,
state
and
nation
over
to
Homeland
Security.
Terrorism
is
fought
at
home,
by
the
people
who
live
in
the
home.
I
forgot
that
in
relation
to
the
mouse.
If
I
had
my
wits
about
me,
I
would
have
taken
the
Pledge
of
Mouse
Vigilance,
recognizing
that
if
I
didn't
protect
our
home
from
mice
invasion,
that
Fear,
Intimidation
and
Complacency
would
slip
through
the
cracks.
Well,
it
did,
in
the
form
a
furry
little
body
with
a
long
tail
and
a
clam
shovel
shaped
nose.
So
what
lesson
have
I
learned?
First,
Terrorism
continues
to
take
many
forms--even
that
of
a
mouse.
Secondly,
the
terrorists
are
smart.
They
live
in
the
cracks
of
society.
Third,
to
ward
off
Mouse
Terrorism
I
need
to
be
offensive
rather
than
defensive.
Now,
I
spend
my
time
not
hunting
down
corporate
terrorists,
or
seeking
out
Family
Terrorism,
but
instead,
chasing
a
one-ounce
mouse
around,
trying
to
outwit
it.
Ha,
good
luck,
Lone
Ranger.
The
bigger
lesson
of
course
is
about
personal
duty
and
responsibility
to
Vigilance.
The
mouse
incident
is
not
so
much
about
a
mouse
as
it
is
about
what
happens
when
I
let
down
my
guard
and
allow
the
walls
of
the
castle
to
crack.
When
I
stop
being
Vigilant
automatically
I
am
subject
to
Terrorism.
We
can
all
stand
up
to
Terrorism
in
our
lives
as
long
as
we
are
offensive
and
not
defensive.
If
we
think
Vigilance
we
think
in
terms
of
protecting
ourselves
from
Fear,
Intimidation
and
Complacency--whether
it
involves
a
mouse
or
emotional
and
physical
Terrorism.
The
key
to
staying
alert
is
to
take
the
Pledge
of
Vigilance
and
apply
it
to
our
many
issues
in
life--our
family,
our
work,
our
relationships
with
others,
our
finances
and
our
commitment
to
taking
charge
of
our
own
lives,
and
teaching
our
children
and
loved
ones
to
do
the
same.
I
failed
in
relationship
to
the
mouse.
But
now
I
am
on
track.
I
even
found
a
website
full
of
"mouse
phobia"
information,
including
a
test
one
can
take
to
see
what
level
of
phobia
one
has.
If
you're
interested,
you
can
find
it
at
this
link:
"Mouse
Phobia"
http://www.changethatsrightnow.com/problem_detail.asp?PhobiaID=1696&SDID=842
So,
if
you
run
into
a
mouse
in
your
house
or
apartment,
and
you
scream
in
Fear
or
Intimidation,
remember,
it's
time
to
take
the
Pledge
of
Vigilance.
Fight
Terrorism
at
home.
Even
if
the
Terrorist
weighs
only
one
ounce.
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