Who is a
Terrorist?
As I write
this, it is September the 17, 2002,
in the early evening, twenty-seven years since that fateful day of my
youth. And oddly enough things are much the same; the temperature is
around 78 degrees with scattered
light rain, and yes of course...the THUNDERSTORMS!
I always find myself, in these particular days, reflecting back upon the
distance traveled from then until now. I find myself often thinking of
the worlds I have seen both in this
earthly realm and realms far beyond this one. How both fortunate and
unfortunate this has been for me. Fortunately, I know without any
question that there is a life after this one. Yet, unfortunately, not
enough people understand the ways to use that knowledge as a means of
improving their quality of life, each and everyday.
The personal pain involved from growing up tough, being struck by lightning twice,
open-heart surgery, brain surgery, and the medical complications
resulting from it all has had an ingenious way of helping me remember
how magnificent and ever unfolding life truly is. But what the
hell...everybody's got to be busy doing something!
In light of all this, as our country faces the potential of charging
into another war, much like the final vision I received on the other
side in 1975 (see http://www.dannion.com), I realize how drastically the
definition of certain words in my life have changed since 1975. For
example: terrorism. As a result of spending the past 25 years working as
a volunteer in end-of-life care, my present definition of terrorism is
not just based on what happened to us on September 11, 2001.
The dictionary
defines terrorism as:
A.
The unlawful use or threatened use of
force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or
property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or
governments, often for ideological or political reasons.
B.
The act of terrorizing, or
state of being terrorized; a mode of government by terror or
intimidation, and
C.
The systematic use of violence
as a means to intimidate or coerce societies or governments.
It is my
conviction that true terrorism has been waged against our most
vulnerable population on a daily basis.. It is happening in our
hospitals and nursing homes across the country each and everyday. These
are the very places we are putting our parents and grandparents for safe
keeping.
The
hundreds of thousands of reported and unreported cases of violent abuse
and inhumane neglect of our elderly represent a display of terrorism at
its ultimate despicability.
-
The
mistreatment of our senior citizens.
-
The
neglect of our veterans.
-
The
prohibitively high cost of prescription drugs.
-
The global
presence of slavery and death by starvation.
-
Child abuse and
domestic violence towards women,
and
-
The
seeming lack of the drug industry's concern for humanity at large.
These
are all examples of despicable acts of terrorism in its truest form.
So, Who is a
Terrorist?
A
terrorist is any person in power, such as our elected officials, who
have been entrusted with the responsibility to protect the life, liberty
and pursuit of happiness of those who elected them and does not live up
to that responsibility. Anyone who researches the Federal Register for
all of the hearings and information brought forth by experts on the
issues of elder abuse and neglect, as well as domestic violence,
will be shocked at what they find. The knowledge that has been
amassed and the lack of quality legislation introduced and actually signed into law
to remedy these situations is completely inadequate.
In other words, those in power know the truth yet, they do next
to nothing to stop it. That is my definition of a terrorist!
And allow me to add to this list.
The CEO's, CFO's, bank officials, and stockbrokers who all conspired to
destroy the lives of the small investors participated in the
near-collapse of the American economy, they're terrorists, too!
As
voting members of this great republic, you and I can be considered
co-conspirators in this terrorism if in knowing the truth we do not take
an immediate and proactive stand against it!
Now, Let's Take a Look at
Homeland Security.
When you realize how many people
are murdered in hospitals and nursing homes as a result of medical
procedures gone wrong, obvious misdiagnosis, and improper drug
administration, along with the lack of the integration of alternative
and complementary therapies, it is all too clear that Homeland
Security should be defined as the guardian of the rights of these
citizens as well.
Since
the year 2000, more than 100,000
people (children and adults) have died in hospitals due to the lack of
proper hygiene and sanitation. In my opinion this is the presence of a
modern day deadly and evil scourge threatening the innocent and
helpless. The reason behind this appalling statistic is that these
institutions have a bottom-line
based on the profitability of their stock instead of the health and well
being of their patients. The lack of concern for these patients, in both
federally and privately funded institutions, is now equally in need of
Homeland Security by anyone's definition.
A Weapon Of Mass Destruction
My
final concern is my current definition of a weapon of mass destruction.
In my opinion, starving children, the collapse of the family
institution, a lack of a spiritual basis of our existence are all
examples of weapons of mass destruction. Recently, we were all
confronted with the constitutionality of a Pledge of Allegiance that
includes the words “under God”. We have also been confronted with
whether a moment of silence can be observed before the onset of any
sporting event. The rights of all Americans to observe
deity-appreciation in public places, such as prayer in school, the power
of special interests groups, and their control over the agenda and
legislature of our local, state and federal governments must be labeled
as weapons of mass destruction. For they serve to undermine
our most cherished American values (In God We Trust).
I realize that you may or may not agree. However, before I will agree to
attack a country, once called Babylon, over dubious, and yet unfounded
claims, I would rather spend the estimated 60 billion dollars it will
cost to fight this war on my definition of the issues of terrorism,
homeland security, and weapons of mass destruction.
Much
of my understanding of the issues - terrorism, American values,
homeland security, and war - has come from 25 years at the bedside of
veterans. To broaden your understanding of these things, please visit a
veteran today
With purpose,
Dannion Brinkley,
