GROUND ZERO, New York City, Jan. 11- Science has a word for the solution driving the world to the brink of war.  It's "miscible."
       Miscible (MIH-suh-bul) is an adjective describing the capacity of mixing two things in any ratio without separation.   Science uses the word to describe fluids that don't separate when mixed together, as oil and water do.
       On first glance, Terrorism and Vigilance appear to be the "oil" and "water" of current conflict, and the two warring factions that seem to cleave the world into the "good guys" vs. the "bad guys."   In one sense of the word you're either a "Terrorist" or you're a "Vigilance Keeper," you either wear a black hat or a white one, you're either a Beast of Terror or a Sentinel of Vigilance.

       Polarity ultimately means there is no hope for balance.   Once we drive our opinions to the extremes, and anoint those extremes with the blood of friends and relatives, it's hard to turn to our enemy and say, "Okay, now let's be friends."   It's hard to turn Terrorism into a miscible solution after we've experienced Nine Eleven, or showered our enemy with diatribes such as "Axis of Evil," or "Satan Incarnate," or likened him or her to "Hitler," or "Stalin," and spread the table such that there is no seat at it for the "Evil Ones."
       It's also hard to find reconciliation with those for whom we have built gallows.
       But nature has a way of reminding us all that what we might think is impossible or improbable can be made possible and probable if we search beyond the present angst of emotions and think as Parents of Vigilance rather than Vigilantes.
        One of those concepts in nature is "miscibility," the compatibility of two solutions to become one, to unify without separation.
        I stumbled across the miscibility this morning.  It was my Merriam-Webster Word of the Day.  I subscribe to the Word of the Day to enrich my understanding of how to better communicate.   If I were a Terrorist, I might subscribe to the "Terror Act Of The Day," receiving each morning a new and unique way to inject Fear, Intimidation and Complacency upon those I seek to victimize.
        But as a TerrorHunter, a Sentinel of Vigilance, I seek to find daily words that promote the opposite of Terrorism, that extol the three Virtues of Vigilance--Courage, Conviction and Right Actions in behalf of the
Children's Children's Children.

         I often find myself struggling not to polarize Terrorism as "evil incarnate," and suggest that if we "kill" Terrorism or "lop off its head" we can all sit back and relax, wash our hands, and turn to the bright rising of the sun and the return of Spring as though our jobs were done.
         I know that would be folly.

        However, I catch myself like so many politicians or pundits of "righteousness" falling into the trap that suggests if we can eliminate the criminals we erase crime, or if we destroy the "Evil Ones" we thus destroy Evil.
         Not so.
         I am truly convinced the Beast of Terror is as much a part of us as the Sentinel of Vigilance.   Just as the sun rises, so it sets.  As light fills the dark room, so does the candle burn down and return the room to darkness.
         Fear, Intimidation and Complacency are as vital to our existence as human beings as Courage, Conviction and Right Actions, for without the Triads of Terrorism there are no Virtues of Vigilance.
         Courage is the outcropping of Fear.   Conviction is born out of the shadow of Intimidation.   And Complacency is the fuel for Right Actions.

 Everything in life is constructed on positives and negatives.   Life, as we know, exists only because of the stress between the positive charge of an atom and its negative charge.   Matter is the sum of electrical conflict, tiny little atoms pushing and pulling at one another forming mass, gravity, and holding things together.
         If we were to take away the negative charges and only have positive charges, the world would cease to exist.  There would be nothing to hold it together.   We would implode.    Existence, as we know it, would disappear.

         Terrorism, the worst of our human emotional negative charges, seems to dominate only when we don't balance it effectively with Vigilance.   Ironically, that balance is delicate indeed.   It only takes One Percent more negative charge than positive to send atoms into disarray, spinning wildly about in chaos.    Conversely, it takes only One Percent more positive charge than negative to bring the world back into order, to put it back on the right track of balance where order is restored.
         This is where miscibility comes into play.
          If science is right, Terrorism and Vigilance are completely miscible (mixable) entities.   The two can coexist within us without polarizing if we work toward that goal rather than try to eviscerate Terrorism or amputate it on the premise that it cannot exist, that its death is our only salvation.
          Currently, North Korea is a prime example of the need to find a miscible solution to the Terrorism it poses.   While some consider North Korea oil and the rest of the world water, others are calling for a way to alter the chemistry of the oil and water so the two can mix without one pole consuming the other.

        The same situation exists in Iraq.  On one hand there are those poised to swoop down with eagle's claws outstretched and snag Saddam Hussein by the neck and squeeze the Evil One's life to death.   Once his head is severed, the theory goes, Spring will return to Iraq.   Flowers will grow out of gun barrels.
          Richard C. Hottelet, a former CBS correspondent, offered an editorial this morning (Jan. 11) in the Christian Science Monitor titled: "How to dissolve terrorism at the roots:  education."
           He cites the need for education as a solvent for the tensions between East and West.  He says, "It will take time and broad cooperation to purge the Muslim world of madrassahs - schools that are the breeding grounds of xenophobic (fear of foreigners) bigotry. Most if not all Arab countries have clergy and scholars who want to modernize, not Westernize, Islamic life. They must be given a loud collective Voice against extremism."

           His point is well taken, but he spends much too much time stirring the pot, reminding the readers how America and other nations spent billions arming the current Terrorists by supplying aid when they were our former allies, and now have turned into our enemies.   Unfortunately, he doesn't cite the primary reason for finding solutions--the future of the children.  Neither does he promote the need for Vigilance over Terrorism.   

       But he is on track with the concept of a miscible solution, a way in which Western and Eastern cultures can exist in the same solution while their differences remain intact, undiluted.
           North Korea poses the same problem.   America has tongue-lashed North Korea as an "evil state," alienating its leader to acts of Bullyism and driving wedges between the ability to negotiate by making North Korea a serpent whose only remedy is beheading.    This forces a state of immiscibility upon the landscape, where North Korea is the oil and America the water.
           Violence, the common antidote to Terrorism, won't work in Korea without devastating ripple effects.  Counter attacks on South Korea and Japan are inevitable results of "oil and water" strategies.  America is being forced into finding a miscible solution where the Terrorism of North Korea and the Vigilance of the West can swim in the same sea.
           But as is the case in Hottelet's article, there is no comment in the news reports regarding North Korea of how Vigilance can be used to neutralize Terrorism's negative dominance.
           It appears to me that the world needs to gather as one group of Parents of Vigilance and cry out for the safety of the Children's Children's Children.
           Since all politics is about compromise in the present, politics is blinded to the future.   "Making the deal now," take precedence over the solidity of that deal downline.   In 1994 we made a "deal" with North Korea.   That "deal" served the immediate needs of politics by defusing a hostile situation.   Now, that hostility has reared its head again.
           In 1991, following the Gulf War, we made a deal with Saddam Hussein.  Now, that "deal" is collapsed.
           When we try to suffocate rather than assimilate Terrorism into our political "deal making," we only put a band aide on the problem.   It festers and erupts again and again.
           We need Realpolitik rather than just politics--politics based on practical and material factors rather than on theoretical or ethical objectives
          The most practical and material factors upon which all decisions should be made must target on the safety and security of the children's children's children.
          This is the miscible solution in which varied cultural differences can coexist in harmony.
          It means we must recognize that Terrorism is part of our human nature, and that we must train ourselves and our thinking to manage the Beast of Terror so that he does not consume the present at the expense of the future.
          Up to a certain point, Fear, Intimidation and Complacency have values.   When they cross over a certain line, they become deficits, for they begin to rule behavior rather than motivate it.   
          Fear of failure often fires the need to muster the Courage to succeed.   Intimidation of others creates the bedrock for building self-confidence and character.   Complacency forces one to take a position for or against something that no longer can be ignored.
           But unless checked by Vigilance--what's right for the Children's Children's Children--Fear, Intimidation and Complacency can turn toxic, as they have in Iraq and North Korea.   
           We suffer in this world, I believe, by not recognizing or applying the Vigilance Formula--Courage minus Fear plus Conviction minus Intimidation, plus Right Actions minus Complacency EQUALS Vigilance for the Children's Children's Children.
           If nations and nations' leaders were to apply this formula to all their strategies, and insist on each member of their nation to subscribe to the Pledge of Vigilance, then Realpolitik would dominate "appeasement politics."

        We feed the Beast of Terror by not attempting to embrace it, to give it the right to exist as part of our humanity, but in a state of subservience--one percent less than our quest for Vigilance.
         Parents who teach a child it is okay to be afraid, okay to be intimidated, okay to feel complacent are on the right track to making Terrorism a miscible part of daily life.   But they can't stop there.  To give Vigilance the edge over Terrorism, they must also teach the child that it's more important to feel at least one percent more Courage over Fear, or one percent more Conviction over Intimidation, or take one percent more Right Actions over Complacency.    They need to remind their child or children that Terrorism is a tool to achieve Vigilance, and anyone who abuses Terrorism is threatening the future of the children.
           Now, such an approach does not limit a nation to enjoying its cultural beliefs, or forces it subscribe to any global dogma.  It doesn't give the right to any nation to impose a particular brand of government on any one, or to suggest their way is the right way.
            Vigilance is the only way.
            Vigilance is the miscible solution, the one where the positive charge precedes the negative, where order is restored to chaos, and where the safety of the children's children's children is the only decision worth making.
            Start today to make the miscible solution work in your life. 
            Become a Parent of Vigilance.

   
        Jan. 10 -- Waiting For The Fangs Of Terrorism To Strike