GROUND ZERO, New York City, Mar. 1--The children want to go to war.   They want to fight the Beast of Terror.   They want to rid the future of the Beast’s danger, to make their world safer for their Children's Children's Children's.  But why them?  Why the kids?  Why not the parents?  The grandparents?
         Perhaps the answer is bigger than we can imagine.  Perhaps the children of America seek to sweep the decks clear of despotism and tyranny now rather than later when Complacency sets in as it does to older generations who tire of the battle to secure the safety of future generations.  Perhaps they know they can’t count on the United Nations, or politicians, or the news media or governments at large to destroy Fear, Intimidation and Complacency.

 I’ve come to that conclusion after reading a recent poll, taken Feb. 19-20, by Harris Interactive for Time/CNN.  I studied the poll for a couple of days, trying to justify why nearly two-thirds (2/3rds) of American 18-29 year olds favor military action to remove Saddam Hussein from power while only 40 percent of their grandparents, people aged 65 and over, are for it.
           I was perplexed at first as I reviewed the poll taken of 1,299 adults in the March 3 edition of Time Magazine.   Based on what you see on television or read in the papers, it would seem that young people are the vast majority of anti-war advocates.   As a betting man I wouldn’t place my money on the kids as being “warmongers,” eager to give their lives in some far distant land for people they don’t know, in a culture so radically different from American ideals it would seem any young person might shake his or her head in despair over any actions creating a dramatic change in the way the culture operates.     
         But the more I pondered the question:  “Why would two-thirds of the kids be in favor of military action?” the more my own fog began to clear and the vision of what they see came into focus.

         What I saw for the kids, a diminutive phrase used to identify the 18-29 age group, was death and destruction.   I saw them walking into the Jaws of the Beast, being chewed to death by Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction.   I saw precious, viable assets risking their lives, sacrificing their future by choice rather than conscription.  
     As an older person with children and grandchildren, I forget how my vision narrows.   I am far more protective of my children’s present than I am their future.    The older one gets, the more cautious his or her steps.  It’s the nature of age to rear back, slow down the horses, take deep breaths and ponder any decision, which threatens the status quo.   Perhaps that why older people are more conservative by nature, and younger ones more liberal.
     I was thinking about protecting my children and their children.   As a father and grandfather, I am more concerned about their present than I am their future, for I have some control over the present and very little over the future—or so I think.
        So what, I asked, do the youth see?   What do they perceive that is worth their lives?
        I figured each youth who voted for military action understood that vote to represent his or agreement to pick up the Sword and Shield of Vigilance and be willing to die, if necessary.   The kids aren’t dumb.  They know wars are not fought by mothers and fathers or grandparents, but by children, by the youth, the young, and the 18-29 year olds.
        No one could convince me that the votes for military action implied individual sacrifice, a willingness to die on their part to remove Saddam Hussein.

  It also meant that each young person who poled in favor of military action endorsed fighting the Beast of Terror—including going into hand-to-hand combat against him, and what he stands for:  Fear, Intimidation and Complacency.

        I figured it took a heap of courage for each youth to make their mark against the Beast.   The sum of them became a generational majority vote to rid the world of the Beast of Terror’s influence, starting first in Baghdad, and then marching to whatever corners of the earth were next.   It wasn’t just a vote; it was an indemnification of an entire generation’s desire to thwart Terrorism.
        Sometimes it is easy to discount the young as not having the wisdom to see into the future.   Age often makes one righteous in this respect, assuming the young are not gifted to see what wisdom can, when, ultimately, the reverse may be true.   Age often blinds us to the wisdom of the future.
        I thought about the courage the youth mustered in their voting.   They were aware Saddam Hussein had biochemical weapons and possibly “dirty nuclear ones” and could and would use them in desperation.   He had already gassed his own people, why not strangers?  Invaders?

      I thought about the courage also the young must inject themselves with to face changing a regime that is so culturally different, that it could take decades for them to approach the freedom and liberty American youth enjoy.
        The Middle Eastern cultures are rife with customs that diminish women that divide people into classes—the rich and poor.  Education is based on religion in most areas, and one diametric to the youth of the Western world.    Yet the kids voted to fight the Beast, to remove the despot, to foil tyranny.    
        I thought about this "willingness to die" principle long and hard as I studied the statistics.    Why would a young person with a rich opportunity to achieve his or her own selfish goals of success in a “safe culture” risk death to fight for the freedom of the Iraqi's?  Why would a generation want to march on Baghdad, knowing it might be dragging its fingers through a bucket of toxic water?
       What if, I thought, the youth can see the future more clearly than anyone else?  What if they instinctively know the rights of the Children's Children's Children come before their own?

      Young people are idealistic in nature.   They believe in the possible even when those who have banged their heads against brick walls as impossible deem it.  The youth of a nation have always been the battering ram of societies.  It is their optimism and idealism that drives societies past their limitations.
       Many companies hire young people to inspire the "Old Guard," to shake the trees so the monkeys hidden in them fall to the ground.  Many political observers claim that Britain's Prime Minister, Tony Blair, because he is young and the father of young children, is taking a tough stand on Iraq.   Some say his vision to the future is apolitical, and he stands for a world free from threats to future generations.   Pundits of Blair’s unpopular support of the Iraqi war claim the safer political stance would be to back away from supporting America and flow with his nation's public opinion, which disfavors war with Iraq.
       But what if Tony Blair is listening to the heartbeat of the youth of the world?   What if he is tuned into station WIIFTCCC (what's-in-it-for-the-children's-children's-children) instead of WIIFM (what's-in-it-for-me)?
       This brings up some critical questions:  Who can best see the future of the children, the old or the young?   Who is best tuned into their channels?  Who best knows the tastes of freedom and wishes them upon all?
         In my humble view, I believe the children's eyes aren't fogged by the consequences of war, but rather sharpened by consequences of not waging war. To NOT remove the threats to their future offspring is a far more frightening choice than to stand by and wait for the “adults” to act.         
        Nature supports this point of view.

         Reproductively, the desire to propagate is highest among the youth.   The most intense fertility rates exist in the 18-29 groups.   Nature urges the youth to mate and bring forth the new broods before age sets in.  Nature's clock may be one of the great forces driving the youth's decisions to go to war. 
        Perhaps Nature knows that the risk Saddam Hussein and other Terrorists like him present to endangering the species.  Perhaps She realizes that if the Saddam Hussein's and Osama bin Laden's and Kim Jong Il's are left unscathed to multiply their weapons of mass destruction, that the fallout from their madness will infect the future of all young mothers and fathers, and destroy or mangle the reproductive security of all children, present and future.

       History reveals that revolutionaries comprise the body of the young.  The young lead change.  It is as though they knew that unless the threats to how they live are removed, and the paths paved for their children smoothed and secured, that they have failed in their genetic duty.  That genetic duty is to leave the world a better place for their children, and their Children's Children's Children.

     This Global Generational Genetic Driving Force is most prominent in the United States.  For many decades we have sent our children to die for others in far off lands with no other goal than to offer them what we have--freedom.   Americans don't die for things, for we don't conquer nations.  Americans die for ideals.  There is no more ultimate ideal than to leave the world safer for the children, and their progeny. 
      Diversity may also be another driving force.  Our children know their children might marry a person from another land, and their children might marry yet another person from still another land, mixing and matching cultures with such diversity that our youth see the world as one unified family rather than as a set of some 200 national and cultural borders separated by over 6,000 languages and thousands of different belief systems.
      America is the most diverse of nations in this respect.   Human beings are more important than religions and cultures when it comes to bonding and building family units.   This cross fertilization of differences levels the cultural playing field to one—a playground for the kids who are born without the pall of race or creed hanging over their heads.
      Because American youth bind as one in their music, their dress, and their beliefs in equality for everyone, perhaps they don’t see the cultural barriers as high or thick as the adults do.   Perhaps they see the children of Iraq assimilating the principles of freedom of speech, of equal rights, of equal opportunity at a rate far beyond the comprehension of those of us “old war horses” who skeptically think of an occupation in Iraq as an exercise in trying to spin straw into gold.
      I give the kids a lot of credit on the issue of voting for military action.   

     I can’t fathom all the visions they have today that I don’t think I have, or forgotten I once did. The kids today helped me remember the reason I went to Vietnam to fight in the early phases of the war.  I went to defend the right to freedom for the children, that they may have what I had--the chance to be their own selves without limitations.  
      At 21, I truly believed that when the war ended, and victory had been secured, that the children of that land would grow to the maximum potential of their visions, not limited by a government that told them how to think, or prosecuted them for challenging its edicts, or opposed their individuality.
       I know I was right in that belief, even though it has been fractured many times by dissenters, and by those who attempt to corrupt the intentions of the United States as a Terror Hunter, a nation whose children die so that other children may be freed from the Beast of Terror.  The kids today reminded me by their votes to go and die in Iraq, that I had done the same in Vietnam.
       While we didn’t win the war in Vietnam, those Vietnamese who escaped to America became winners.  The Vietnamese who found their way to our land after the war have soared in prosperity.   Many whose parents were once rice farmers have achieved awesome heights of social, political, economic and religious liberty in a free land.   None who have tasted the fruits of freedom in this land will deny their value to those who live under the shadow of communism.

       So maybe if I go back in time, and remember that I was willing to die for the freedom of the Vietnamese, I can better understand why so many young Americans are willing to die for the freedom of the Iraqis. Nearly 2/3rd of the youthful population of 18-29 are.
       I salute these American Youth of Vigilance, and offer them all the Swords and Shields of Vigilance I can manufacture.  I hope the Beast of Terror understands their resolve, for if he does, he knows he should pack up his Fear, Intimidation and Complacency and start running.   For Courage, Conviction and Right Actions for the Children's Children's Children have spoken.
      If you are a Parent or Grandparent or Loved One of Vigilance, you can support the Youth of Vigilance.  Take the Pledge of Vigilance today.   Let it be your symbol of understanding Youth's willingness to defend their future and that of their progeny.

Feb 28--I Owe Mr. Fred Rogers A Kiss