GROUND ZER0, New York, N.Y.--Mar. 3, 2004 -- Six years after her 10-day old baby was thought burned to death in a house fire, the mother of the child looked into the eyes of a young girl at a birthday party and became convinced the bubbling six-year-old was indeed the daughter police and fire officials thought had been consumed in the fire six years before.    

           To confirm her suspicions, the woman pretended to remove some gum from the girl's hair, and secretly clipped some strands of her hair, stuffing them into her purse.
           The "mother" of the girl, Carolyn Correa, is a cousin of the child's real mother, Luz Cuevas.   Ms. Cuevas took the strand of hair to State Representative Angel Cruz, a Democrat of Philadelphia, pleading for his help in checking out her story.   Her only evidence was a comment someone had made at the birthday party that the child was really Ms. Cuevas daughter, and, Ms. Cuevas instincts.
             Six years earlier, the medical examiner and fire department had ruled the baby died in the fire, and it consumed her body.

             Mr. Cruz went to police officials who ran DNA samples on the hair, confirming the child was Ms. Cuevas daughter.   Then the Philadelphia police asked for help from New Jersey authorities where Ms. Correa lived.   Ms. Correa submitted to DNA tests and the child was taken from her and returned to her natural mother.
              There is a powerful message in this bizarre story.   It's about Instinctual Vigilance.
               Here is a mother who was told by officials her ten-day-old baby had burned to death.   There was "closure" from an "official" viewpoint.  Both the medical examiner and fire department ruled the baby had died in the fire.
              For six years, the burden of that child's death hung about the shoulders of Ms. Cuevas.   Then, looking into the eyes of a six-year-old child, and hearing the suggestion that the child was the woman's daughter, sparked the link between life and death.
               Death certificates had been issued.   Confirmations had been made regarding the loss of the child.   All the "legal" elements of death had been punctuated.   Why would the mother "know" this was her child?  What forces of Vigilance overpowered the forces of Terrorism--the Terror of wanting to believe the "dead" are "alive?"
                It is hard for many to accept death.    Some people keep the death of others an arm's length away, so that the life of the memory will not decay as the flesh does.   Some argue that keeping memories of the dead alive interferes with the present; that honoring the dead hobbles one's ability to live life free of the sadness and pain of the past tragedy.    Others believe honoring the dead as though alive is the highest of all tributes.
              Somewhere between these two views is what I refer to as Instinctual Vigilance.   Instinctual Vigilance is about a knowledge one has that no matter what things appear to be on the surface, there is much more as you dig deep into the marrow of the meaning.
                Death for some can be nothing but a punctuation point to life.   To others, it may be only a comma, a pause in the long sentence of life's meaning.     

           Instinctual Vigilance is about a knowledge in our guts, in our viscera, that all tragedy, all sorrow, all pain and all suffering has a purpose to it, a reason that provides a greater truth, a greater clarity, more valued meaning at the end of the road we travel than the pain and suffering of the event itself.
              Nothing can be more difficult to a parent than the loss of an innocent child, especially one consumed in a fire who was only ten days old.   Yet, the Instinctual Vigilance of the mother held fast and strong.   She clung to some lifeline of belief that defied the logic of fire and medical officials who deemed the child's death accidental.

     I apply Instinctual Vigilance to the Spirits of Vigilance who hover above Ground Zero.    There, on September 11, 2001, as I sat in the rubble of the worst Terrorist attack in American history, I saw the birth of the Sentinels of Vigilance.  From the ashes rose their spirits, forming a great Ring of Vigilance around Ground Zero, vowing to keep their eyes and ears glued to the horizon, committed to warning us all to fight Fear with Courage, to battle Intimidation with Conviction, and to stave off Complacency with Right Actions that benefits the Children's Children's Children.
             Instinctual Vigilance is a belief that our duty begins with protecting not only our own children, but all children from harm.   It keeps our focus on the real value of life--those selfless acts that promote the safety and security of the future.

              I believe the deaths of nearly 3,000 people at the World Trade Center were selfless acts of sacrifice that we, the survivors, would look upon as a reminder to maintain our Instinctual Vigilance and not let it be suffocated by time and circumstance.
              It would have been easy for Ms. Cuevas to have shrugged off the comment that the six-year-old girl was her daughter.   There never was a question about her daughter's death--at least not from the officials who deemed her body burnt by the fire so that nothing was left.    But, the mother instinct didn't accept that possibility.   She clipped the girl's hair, perhaps hoping not to confirm the child was hers as much to eliminate the possibility.   It would be horrible to think that a dead child was indeed alive, and you didn't know where or with whom.
               Obviously, Ms. Cuevas never buried her daughter.   Her memory stayed alive.
             Hopefully, we have not buried the memories of those who died on September 11, 2001.   It might be easy to do as the battles wage on the global Terrorism vs. Vigilance battlefield.   Listening to the political rhetoric where American leadership is being lambasted for fighting Terrorism, one might want to bury the memory of Nine Eleven and get on with other domestic issues not related to Terrorism.
             But, if we bury the memory of Nine Eleven, however horrible it might be to face it, do we bury the Instinctual Vigilance that keeps us ready to respond to the threats of Terrorism?    Do we become "vulnerable" to Fear, Intimidation and Complacency so we are ripe pickings for the next Beast of Terror attack?       

           Or, do we keep our Sense of Vigilance peaked, as Ms. Cuevas did, constantly alert to the fact that out of no where the Beast of Terror can attack and that we must be ready for him when he does.
            Ms. Cuevas was ready for the Terror of facing the fact that her daughter was alive.    What a shock that must be to one who thought his or her child was dead, and how precarious a road to travel to find out if the possibility is true or false.    All levels of Fear and Courage, Intimidation and Conviction, Complacency and Right Actions must have clashed in the process.
           But Ms. Cuevas was a true Sentinel of Vigilance.  She had her scissors ready.  She snipped some hair.   She pounded on doors.  She fought for the right to "know" the truth, and didn't avoid it.
            Her story is a lesson.
            Beware the temptation of burying Terrorism.   Beware the desire to put Terrorism behind us as we listen to the grumbles and roars of political rhetoric, trying to sell short the battles with the Beast.
             Remember that Ms. Cuevas was victorious because she had a pair or scissors in her hand, and a long-standing belief in her guts that the Beast of Terror could be defeated.
               
                

Mar 2--Monsters Of The Imagination