VigilanceVoice

VigilanceVoice.com
Monday--October 21, 2002—Ground Zero Plus 404
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Trembling Terrorists Weaken
In Face-Off With Vigilance
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by
Cliff McKenzie
   Editor, New York City Combat Correspondent News
 

       GROUND ZERO, New York City, October 21 -- The bullies of Terrorism are weakening.   You can hear their knees shaking...and watch the sweat glistening on their brows as they hear the whoosh of  the Wings Of Vigilance slicing in a steep stoop toward them.
       If Terrorism gluts itself on Fear, Intimidation and Complacency, then Vigilance's Courage, Conviction and Right Action is starving it, flushing it out into the open, blocking its escape.
       The hunter becomes the hunted when he begins to panic and chooses acts of desperation to appear as a friend rather than a bully bent on hammering the weak, the innocent.

       Applause goes to President Bush, for his one-man stand against Terrorism, for not crumbling to the braggadocio of Terrorism, or being intimidated by the United Nations waffling over decisions to spank Terrorism with a mighty iron fist and no velvet glove.
        I remember when Coca Cola abandoned its original formula a number of years ago and tried to introduce a "new Coke to combat Pepsi's intrusion on its market share.   Pepsi, going after the "new generation," attacked Coke's old, stodgy image with upbeat ads and its "taste test."   When Coke abandoned its old formula for the new, Pepsi ran full page ads that shouted:  "You Flinched!"
       In any standoff, the first one who flinches loses.   Weakness cracks their power.  A stream of sweat leaking down the side of their face reveals their unhidden Fear, their Intimidation, their Complacency to face a "power greater than themselves."  The bully becomes the Terrorized, and tries to quickly change his image from being the "bad" guy to being a "good guy."   
       Coke, with its tail between its legs, ended up going back to its original formula.
       Saddam Hussein has just flinched too.
       Sweat is leaking down the side of his face.

       Yesterday, he declared amnesty for all the prisoners in Iraq prisons--thousands of whom have been locked up for years for just "thinking about opposing" the dictatorial ruler since 1979 when he took power over Iraq's 22 million citizens.
       Over the years the prisons have swollen with people accused of various crimes--from 15 years for stealing groceries, to torture and execution for crimes against the state.
       Thousands of friends and relatives rushed the prisons throughout Iraq.   At Abu Ghraib prison, 20 miles from Baghdad, notorious for its torture and execution of prisoners, the mass of relatives outside the jail crushed down the gates and madly searched for husbands, sons, brothers, cousins who had been swallowed in secret behind the walls.    Some prisoners were killed as the crowds smashed through cellblocks in search of their loved ones.  Guards stood passive.
         Hussein's justification for blanket amnesty was prompted, he said, as a reward for the countries 100 percent endorsement of him in recent elections...........  He was the only candidate on the ballot!  
        The amnesty included all Iraqis, including those outside the country who fled in fear of his retaliation against them.

      Some likened Hussein's amnesty gift as similar to the tearing down of the Berlin Wall, a symbol that he was shifting positions from being a "Fear Leader," to one of benevolent nature.   Others saw his decision as a means to rally internal support, and to recruit thousands to fight a possible invasion by America.
       Two weeks ago President Bush called him a "dictator," and a "student of Stalin, a man who uses "murder as a tool of terror."
       Iraqi prisons, considered the harshest and cruelest in the Arab world, held behind their walls the vital organ of Hussein's power--the ability to arrest, torture and execute anyone who opposed him.   Now, they are empty.
      In a similar stand-off in another land, North Korea last week announced to the world it had the ability to produce nuclear weapons.    The news shocked the world, for it came from within North Korea as an admission, rather than as an accusation from outside.
      Prognosticators of foreign affairs say that North Korea has a history of denying and refuting claims against it, and that the "new openness" is an effort by the nation to "normalize" relations with the United States and not be considered a "terror state," thus limiting aid and development.

      Earlier in the month, North Korea's leader had apologized to the Japanese government for kidnapping its citizens years ago to be used to teach the language and culture in spy schools.   It was the first time Korea apologized for anything, suggesting it wanted to let the world know it was changing, seeking more openness and harmony with the world, especially crucial allies who could help expand its economy.
      In both cases, the former bullies of the world have stripped off their clothing to stand naked before the world.  In a way, each is saying:  "Look, I'm not a bad guy, so don't hit me."
      I took both incidents as a sign that Vigilance works.
      The Intimidators were Intimidated.   The Fear mongers were afraid.  
      The United States is responsible.

      Unilaterally, despite thousands of critics globally, the United States has strapped on its six guns and told the world we are not going to stand by and let maverick leaders threaten the world.    The saber rattling worked.    At least for the moment.
       Denuding the prisons in Iraq was a major example, as was North Korea's admission of nuclear capacity.  Both flinched when President Bush held up the Shield of Vigilance and the Terrorist states realized the Courage, Conviction and Right Actions weren't just fodder, but commitments cased in titanium.
      On a micro level, the same Vigilance Formula works for any person being Terrorized by either their own thoughts, or by another person.   Terrorism gnaws away at one's Fear, Intimidation and Complacency until it owns the individual.   Instead of being the sum of all one's Courage, Conviction and Right Actions, a Terrorized individual becomes the meek, weak, knee-wobbling person who is a nail and everyone else a hammer.  

      We call it "victimization."    Anyone who is a "victim" of anything is really a person trapped in a prison of Terrorism.
      It's time to break down the prison walls of Terrorism within one's self.
      Unlike Iraq, we imprison ourselves.  We judge ourselves to be "bad," "unworthy," "not as good as," "not as smart as," or not as "fortunate as" others.  We compare our outsides to others outsides, forgetting to compare our insides to other's insides.

     What appears to us be "greener grass" for another may be living hell, but we don't know that because we only see the "worst of ourselves," and the "best of others."    Terrorism blinds us into thinking we can never climb out of the rut we are in.
      That's why we should declare amnesty upon ourselves.
      We should set free within us the Power of Vigilance to storm down the gates to our "Internal Prisons" where all we see is our defects, our defeats, our "should'ves, could'ves but didn't."  We torture ourselves, becoming our own worst critic, and feed our Emotional Terrorist until we end up on Paxil, or suck on the neck of wine or booze bottles, or pop pills, or do drugs, or just feel like a "loser," a "nobody," a "nothing."
      Iraq proved the power of the Pledge of Vigilance.   It proved that Vigilance can overpower Terrorism.   It proved that the Walls of Terror can come crumbling down if we grant amnesty to ourselves.
     North Korea proved the same to be true.   By admitting and disclosing its nuclear arsenal, it gained power through honest self evaluation.   The North Koreans could have waited for the United States' accusation of harboring such weapons, and denied they existed.   But they didn't.  They broadcast the information.  

     Break down the walls of Emotional Terrorism in your life.
     Take the Pledge of Vigilance.
     Live by its Principles, not for yourself, but for your children, and their children's children--or, just because you'll be happier.