webfoot-II

To Those Younger Than I

2007-10-26T11:38:00.000-07:00

An Address On My 80th Birthday

One of the perks of getting old is that you get to give advice. I have some now for the younger people here. I can’t imagine that any of you would have any desire to walk in my footsteps — and if any do — I can disabuse you of that idea right now. There are many paths out there far better that you can take and I urge you to do so.

You will have many decisions to make during your lifetime — most of which will turn out to be of minimal importance to anyone including you. But you will also soon have a crucial decision to make that will be of vital importance both to you and to the world.

Unfortunately, you are destined to live in an America at war — facing a powerful and fanatically determined enemy. It will be a continuing crisis that may well last throughout your lifetime. There has never been a more critical — more dangerous period in this nation’s history than that you face.

I’m sorry for that, and you may think it unfair. But, none of us gets to choose the generation we’re born into. You and your generation have drawn the short straw.

Unfortunately, many Americans — perhaps even a majority — have grown soft and fearful in these latter years. They would have us follow a European model of cowardice and defeatism in the face of a determined Islamic-Fascism that wants us all dead. They have become sheep.

It is hard to be overly critical of sheep. They are kind and gentle creatures who can never harm one another except by accident. However, sheep also live in a state of denial. They think the wolf will not come today — not to me and my family.

That is their only defense. They do not want to believe — will not believe that there is evil in the world today so twisted and demented it cannot be reasoned with — cannot be negotiated with — but must be destroyed.

These people want to kill us all — not because of anything we’ve done but because of what we are. And they are dedicated to our destruction. If you don’t believe there is such evil in the world today, you can just go around saying “Baaa.”

You will be asked to choose between two clear paths . One is the path of denial — to become a sheep. The other is the path of the warrior.

The sheep flees at the sound of strife. When the wolf strikes they pray to be far away. On the other hand the warrior moves to the sound of battle confident that he or she can make a difference in the outcome. The warrior lives to confront the wolf.

If you choose to become a sheep you will have the comfort of believing that the wolf will not come today. But you will pay a heavy price when the wolf does come. Denial is not an effective defense. You will not be able to protect yourself or your family.

On the other hand the warrior confronts the wolf on its own terms. He knows the wolf will give no quarter — so neither does he. This may require much sacrifice both personal and as a nation. But — we must win regardless of sacrifice. The only other option is to accept our own destruction. The future, not only of this country, but that of Western Civilization, is in your hands. Our survival depends on you and the path you choose.

With time, my step has grown slower and less sure — my grip a little weaker — my eyesight a little blurred. But I perceive some things now much more clearly than I did when younger. I know there are many things that you will face in your lifetime that will combine to thwart your efforts to build a peaceful and prosperous existence for yourself and your family. You will have to fight through them. That is the lot of the generation into which you were born. It is now on your shoulders that the future of the world rests.

If you choose — as I strongly recommend — to walk the path of the warrior, you will join with others of like mind to protect and preserve the freedoms we now enjoy for your children — and their children — and also for the children of the sheep. Then, when old, you may join that immortal band of heroes spoken of by Tennyson at the close of Ulysses:

“Tho’ much is taken — much abides; and tho’ we are not now that strength which in the old days shook the heavens and the earth, that which we are; we are. One equal temper of heroic hearts made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find, to protect, and never to yield.”

William Bennett, in a lecture to the midshipmen of the U. S. Naval Academy, made a statement and asked them some provocative questions. Here’s what he said:

“Honor never grows old, and honor rejoices the heart of age. It does so because honor is, finally, about defending those noble and worthy things that deserve defending, even if it comes at a high cost. In our time, that may mean social disapproval, public scorn, hardship, persecution, or as always, even death itself. The question remains: What is worth defending? What is worth dying for? What is worth living for?”

Those are the question everyone — including you — will finally have to answer. May God help you choose correctly.

Uncle Hub in the movie, Second-Hand Lion, said, “Always believe in Courage, in Virtue, and in Honor — that good always triumphs over evil — for those are the things worth believing in.”

Also believe there is an angel at your shoulder as you move down the path of life. Whichever path you choose, I wish you well.

The Future of Multiculturalism

2007-06-19T14:03:00.000-07:00

Not long ago, Richard D. Lamm (D) governor of Colorado, demonstrated before an attentive audience how he would go about the destruction of America (if he wanted to do so).

"Turn America into a bilingual or multi-lingual and bicultural country. History shows that no nation can survive the tension, conflict, and antagonism of two or more competing languages and cultures. It is a blessing for an individual to be bilingual; however, it is a curse for a society to be bilingual.

"The historical scholar Seymour Lipset put it this way: 'The histories of bilingual and bicultural societies that do not assimilate are histories of turmoil, tension, and tragedy.' Canada, Belgium, Malaysia, Lebanon all face crises of national existence in which minorities press for autonomy, if not independence. Pakistan and Cyprus have divided. Nigeria suppressed an ethnic rebellion. France faces difficulties with Basques, Bretons, and Corsicans."

Lamm went on: "Invent 'multiculturalism' and encourage immigrants to maintain their culture. I would make it an article of belief that all cultures are equal. That there are no cultural differences. I would make it an article of faith that the Black and Hispanic dropout rates are due to prejudice and discrimination by the majority. Every other explanation is out of bounds.

"We could make the United States an 'Hispanic Quebec' without much effort. The key is to celebrate diversity rather than unity. As Benjamin Schwarz said in the Atlantic Monthly recently: 'The apparent success of our own multiethnic and multicultural experiment might have been achieved not by tolerance but by hegemony. Without the dominance that once dictated ethnocentrically and what it meant to be an America, we are left with only tolerance and pluralism to hold us together.'"

Lamm said, "I would encourage all immigrants to keep their own language and culture. I would replace the melting pot metaphor with the salad bowl metaphor. It is important to ensure that we have various cultural subgroups living in America reinforcing their differences rather than as Americans, emphasizing their similarities."

"Fourth, I would make our fastest growing demographic group the least educated. I would add a second underclass, unassimilated, undereducated, and antagonistic to our population. I would have this second underclass have a 50% dropout rate from high school."

"My fifth point for destroying America would be to get big foundations and business to give these efforts lots of money. I would invest in ethnic identity, and I would establish the cult of 'Victimology.' I would get all minorities to think their lack of success was the fault of the majority. I would start a grievance industry blaming all minority failure on the majority population."

"My sixth plan for America's downfall would include dual citizenship and promote divided loyalties. I would celebrate diversity over unity. I would stress differences rather than similarities. Diverse people worldwide are mostly engaged in hating each other - that is, when they are not killing each other."

"A diverse, peaceful, or stable society is against most historical precedent. People undervalue the unity it takes to keep a nation together. Look at the ancient Greeks. The Greeks believed that they belonged to the same race; they possessed a common language and literature; and they worshipped the same gods. All Greece took part in the Olympic games. A common enemy Persia threatened their liberty. Yet all these bonds were not strong enough to over come two factors: local patriotism and geographical conditions that nurtured political divisions. Greece fell . In that historical reality, if we put the emphasis on the 'pluribus' instead of the 'unum,' we can balkanize America as surely as Kosovo."

"Next to last, I would place all subjects off limits ~ make it taboo to talk about anything against the cult of 'diversity.' I would find a word similar to 'heretic' in the 16th century - that stopped discussion and paralyzed thinking. Words like 'racist' or 'xenophobe' halt discussion and debate."

"Having made America a bilingual/bicultural country, having established multi-culturism, having the large foundations fund the doctrine of 'Victimology,' I would next make it impossible to enforce our immigration laws. I would develop a mantra: That because immigration has been good for America, it must always be good. I would make every individual
immigrant sympathetic and ignore the cumulative impact of millions of them."

Finally he said, "Lastly, I would censor Victor Hanson Davis's book Mexifornia. His book is dangerous. It exposes the plan to destroy America. If you feel America deserves to be destroyed, don't read that book."

Everyone knows that everything Governor Lamm enumerated in that speech is being implemented even now. Local politicians fall all over themselves rushing to extoll their support of “diversity.” Instead of striving for a strong American culture, we encourage immigrants, legal or otherwise, to bring their own.

How far are we from our own destruction by national suicide? History says it is at hand.

Bush's Mistakes???

2007-06-02T09:12:00.000-07:00

A woman recently wrote the Dallas Morning News that the public should be patient with the Democrats in congress as it was going to take some time to correct all of the Bush Administration’s mistakes. Maybe it would help if we would go over some of them now and see if we can help the Democrats correct them.

1. The Iraq War

Sorry, we can’t bring back the former leader of Iraq, but maybe we could install another despot to rule the country who would bring back the rape rooms, the torture chambers, and the killing fields.

Pull out all our troops right now as the House Democrats have voted to do. Maybe Al Queda and other jihadists would be too busy slaughtering everyone who has dared to help the U. S. here to bother with attacking us for a couple of months.

We will, of course, have to annul the Iraq free elections as they were sanctioned by the Bush Administration.

2. Afghanistan War

We can probably persuade the Taliban to come back and resume control of this country. After all, we all said this was an unwinnable war to start with. If the Russians couldn’t do — for sure George W. Bush couldn’t do it. Another one of his blunders.

3. The Economy

It may be hard to correct this Bush mistake. Unemployment is at near record lows, home ownership is at an all-time high, the Dow sets new records almost daily, and the powerful and productive economy is the envy of all the world.

Maybe we can cancel the tax cuts and, with a bit of luck, bring back the double digit inflation and unemployment of the Carter years. It will surely be a relief to get this Bush mistake corrected.

4. Homeland Security

The fact that we have not had a successful attack on U. S. territory since 9/11 is certainly not due to anything George W. Bush has done. It’s probably just a show of good will by the jihadists to demonstrate that their intentions are peaceful, and if we would just leave them alone they would do the same for us.

However, if Bush continues to harass them by disrupting their cells and plots and arresting their leaders, they may not continue such forbearance. Another example of the many mistakes made by this administration. The esteem of this country by the militant Islamists is at an all-time low.

Conclusion

Won’t this be a wonderful country when the Democrats finally get a handle on all these mistakes that Bush has made and corrects them? I’m really looking forward to it.

END

America's Own Fifth Column

2007-05-14T10:28:00.000-07:00

We have a “Fifth Column” here in America, and we have had one for many years. It is still alive and doing well under the guardianship of left-wing university faculties, the mainstream media, and the vast influence of the radical America-hating billionaire, George Soros. Here’s a view of that “Fifth Column” seen, not by right-wing ideologues, but through the eyes of a former enemy military leader.

The August 3, 1995 edition of the Wall Street Journal carried an interview with former North Vietnamese Colonel Bui Tin, a member of the North Vietnamese general staff and the man who received the surrender of South Vietnam's President Duong Van Minh on April 30, 1975.

The interview was conducted by Stephen Young, a Minnesota human rights activist. It might do us good to remember this today. We snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in Viet Nam, and it appears we are about to do the same in Iraq.

Colonel Tin described the military and political events of the war from his vantage point in Hanoi. What he described was the step-by-step defeat of US forces, not on the battlefield, but in the White House, in the Halls of Congress, in the streets of America, and on our college and university campuses .

Col. Tin was asked, "How did Hanoi intend to defeat the Americans?" He responded, "By fighting a long war which would break their will. Ho Chi Minh said, 'We don't need to win military victories, we only need to hit them until they give up and get out.' "

Step One.

Col Tin was asked, "Was the American anti-war movement important to Hanoi's victory?" He responded, "It was essential to our strategy . Every day our leadership would listen to world news over the radio at 9:00 AM to follow the growth of the American anti-war movement. Visits to Hanoi by people like Jane Fonda and former Attorney General Ramsey Clark...gave us confidence that we should hold on in the face of battlefield reverses."

Step Two.

Col. Tin was asked, "How could the Americans have won the war?" He responded, "Cut the Ho Chi Minh trail inside Laos. If Johnson had granted (General) Westmoreland's requests to enter Laos and block the Ho Chi Minh trail, Hanoi could not have won the war."

Step Three.

Col. Tin was asked, "What of American bombing of North Vietnam? " He responded, "If all the bombing had been concentrated at one time, it would have hurt our efforts. But the bombing was expanded in slow stages under Johnson and it didn't worry us."

Step Four.

Col. Tin was asked, "What about Westmoreland's strategy and tactics caused you concern?" He responded, "Our senior commander in the South, Gen. Nguyen Chi Thanh, knew that we were losing base areas, control of the rural population, and that his main forces were being pushed out to the borders of South Vietnam. Johnson had rejected Westmoreland's request for 200,000 more troops (and) we realized that America had made its maximum military commitment to the war. "

Step Five.

Col. Tin continued, " Tet was designed to influence American public opinion. We would attack poorly defended parts of South Vietnam cities during a holiday.when few South Vietnamese troops would be on duty. Our losses were staggering.(General) Giap later told me that Tet had been a military defeat, though we had gained the planned political advantages when Johnson agreed to negotiate and did not run for reelection."

Step Six.

Col. Tin was asked, "What of Nixon?" He responded, "Well, when Nixon stepped down because of Watergate we knew we would win. (Prime Minister) Pham Van Dong said of Gerald Ford. 'He's the weakest president in US history; the people didn't elect him. Even if you gave him candy he doesn't dare intervene in Vietnam again.' "

Now we have virtually the same “Fifth Column” determined to force us to withdraw our troops which are engaged in a life-or-death struggle with the Islamo-Fascists. They want to force us into another humiliating defeat at the hands of barbarians who want us all dead. And the public
seems to be ready to hand it to them.

THE ELECTORATE

2007-05-04T13:40:00.000-07:00

It is simply flabbergasting to me how our electorate can be so seemingly dim-witted at times. I remember a time when we were so appalled at the cover-up of a botched low-level burglary that we turned out a sitting president who had helped bring us a wonderful period of peace and prosperity. The economy was booming. North Viet Nam had signed a peace treaty promising to not interfere militarily in South Viet Nam.

The mainstream media and the Leftist Democrats wasted no time in dismembering and destroying the Nixon Administration and pounding the Republicans in congress who lost 48 seats in the House and 5 Senate seats. They were replaced by the so-called "Watergate Babies" whose first act was to cut off all aid to South Viet Nam. Our troops were ordered out of the country in full retreat. North Viet Nam had prevailed throughout Indo China. Thousands of valiant American troops who had shed their blood for this country were found to have done so in vain.

Our friends in South Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia were massacred in the killing fields by the millions. Millions more, called Boat People by the press, frantically tried to escape by sea. The American military were scorned as "baby killers." They were spat upon when they returned to this country. Our nation's honor was forever stained by the actions of a spoiled and brainless crowd of punks who, for a time, virtually took over the country. Reading the mood of the country to be one that would last forever, the opportunistic John Kerry threw away his questionable medals and ripped his shipmates and fellow veterans as "reminiscent of Genghis Khan."

We voted in the most shameful president in memory in the person of Jimmie Carter who proceeded to lead us into economic shambles and more international disgrace. In case you don't remember, inflation went to 12% with 11% unemployment and we faced vast deficits. When our diplomats were held for months with impunity by a bunch of religious zealots, our nation became the laughingstock of the world. Fortunately we recovered our senses just in time to bring in Ronald Reagan and restore some sanity to our government. When asked what his "strategy" was for the Cold War, Reagan replied "We win. They lose."

Obviously, we didn't learn our lesson. A few years later we discarded a genuine war hero who had led us to the final victory in the Cold War as the Berlin Wall tumbled, the "Evil Empire" crumbled and The United States regained a measure of the respect it had once earned as fitting leader of the free world. We replaced him with a pot smoking, womanizing draft dodger who reduced this proud nation to a laughingstock again.

Now the mainstream media bleats that George W. Bush is "the worst president of modern times." How short the memory! After all, what has this president accomplished? He has presided over the defeat of the Taliban in Afghanistan when all the doomsayers declared it "an impossible quagmire." He led the country in a victory over the once powerful and feared Iraqi army, deposed one of history's most despicable tyrants and brought him to justice. Both countries have had free democratic elections in which the people braved threats of death to vote.

He has led us into an economy which is the envy of the world with fantastic productivity, a heady standard of living, and rock bottom unemployment. He has kept the mainland safe from further attacks and has badly crippled al Qaeda. He has assembled a coalition to confront North Korea on her nuclear program and is making progress on quelling the foreign insurgency in Iraq.

Now the mainstream media, egged on by the far left wingers call for a repudiation of the party who has presided over these successes. There is now great danger that we are on the verge of bringing in successors to "the Watergate Babies" who will cut troop funding and quit the field of battle against the Islamic Fascists. Once again we are preparing to abandon those who put their trust in us against the forces of evil.

If the path of our nation is to be directed by those who believe that the war is lost and announce this to the world even while our troops are engaged in battle with the enemy, can another bloodbath of our friends and allies which would put another stain on our country's honor be far behind.

While the wolves of Islamic Fascism are at our throats, these worthies concern themselves with raising the minimum wage, cutting interest on student loans, questions of who knew what and when about naughty notes sent to Congressional Pages, and killing unborn babies to harvest their stem cells. For the love of this country can we not put aside some of these arguments until the relentless enemy who wants us all dead is vanquished and this mortal danger to our nation destroyed?

Sheep, Wolves & Sheepdogs

2007-04-24T09:41:00.000-07:00

At a time when one of the leaders of a major American political party, while brave and skillful American troops are still engaging the enemy, announces that "the war is already lost," it might be good to take a look at the following thoughtful essay.

Unfortunately, many Americans, perhaps even a majority, no longer seem to have the will to stand up to the world's wolves because it requires a sacrifice of some of our gallant troops. They have become "sheep." For my generation (World War II) this kind of attitude would have been unthinkable.

In brief, Jill Edwards, a junior math major at the University of Washington, a member of the UW student senate, opposed a memorial to UW grad "Pappy" Boyington. Boyington was a U.S. Marine aviator who earned the Medal of Honor in World War II. Edwards said that she didn't think it was appropriate to honor a person who killed other people. She also said that a member of the Marine Corps was NOT an example of the sort of person the University of Washington wanted to produce.

**************************

Gen. Dula's letter to the University of Washington student senate leader.

To: Edwards, Jill (student, UW)

Subject: Sheep, Wolves and Sheepdogs

Miss Edwards, I read of your 'student activity' regarding the proposed memorial to Col Greg Boyington, USMC and a Medal of Honor winner. I suspect you will receive a bellyful of angry e-mails from conservative folks like me. You may be too young to appreciate fully the sacrifices of generations of servicemen and servicewomen on whose shoulders you and your fellow students stand. I forgive you for the untutored ways of youth and your naiveté.

It may be that you are, simply, a sheep. There's no dishonor in being a sheep - - as long as you know and accept what you are. Please take a couple of minutes to read the following. And be grateful for the thousands - - millions - - of American sheepdogs who permit you the freedom to express even bad ideas.

Brett Dula, Sheepdog, retired

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ON SHEEP, WOLVES, AND SHEEPDOGS

By LTC(RET) Dave Grossman, RANGER, Ph.D., author of "On Killing."

Honor never grows old, and honor rejoices the heart of age. It does so because honor is, finally, about defending those noble and worthy things that deserve defending, even if it comes at a high cost. In our time, that may mean social disapproval, public scorn, hardship, persecution, or as always, even death itself. The question remains: What is worth defending? What is worth dying for? What is worth living for? - William J. Bennett - in a lecture to the United States Naval Academy November 24, 1997

One Vietnam veteran, an old retired colonel, once said this to me: "Most of the people in our society are sheep. They are kind, gentle, productive creatures who can only hurt one another by accident." This is true. Remember, the murder rate is six per 100,000 per year, and the aggravated assault rate is four per 1,000 per year. What this means is that the vast majority of Americans are not inclined to hurt one another.

Some estimates say that two million Americans are victims of violent crimes every year, a tragic, staggering number, perhaps an all-time record rate of violent crime. But there are almost 300 million Americans, which means that the odds of being a victim of violent crime is considerably less than one in a hundred on any given year. Furthermore, since many violent crimes are committed by repeat offenders, the actual number of violent citizens is considerably less than two million.

Thus there is a paradox, and we must grasp both ends of the situation: We may well be in the most violent times in history, but violence is still remarkably rare. This is because most citizens are kind, decent people who are not capable of hurting each other, except by accident or under extreme provocation. They are sheep.

I mean nothing negative by calling them sheep. To me, it is like the pretty, blue robin's egg. Inside it is soft and gooey and someday it will grow into something wonderful. But the egg cannot survive without its hard blue shell.

Police officers, soldiers, and other warriors are like that shell, And someday the civilization they protect will grow into something wonderful. For now, though, they need warriors to protect them from the predators.

"Then there are the wolves," the old war veteran said, "and the wolves feed on the sheep without mercy." Do you believe there are wolves out there who will feed on the flock without mercy? You better believe it. There are evil men in this world and they are capable of evil deeds. The moment you forget that or pretend it is not so, you become a sheep. There is no safety in denial.

"Then there are sheepdogs," he went on, "and I'm a sheepdog. I live to protect the flock and confront the wolf."

If you have no capacity for violence then you are a healthy productive citizen, a sheep. If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy for your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive sociopath, a wolf.

But what if you have a capacity for violence, and a deep love for your fellow citizens? What do you have then? A sheepdog, a warrior, someone who is walking the hero's path. Someone who can walk into the heart of darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk out unscathed

Let me expand on this old soldier's excellent model of the sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs. We know that the sheep live in denial, that is what makes them sheep. They do not want to believe that there is evil in the world. They can accept the fact that fires can happen, which is why they want fire extinguishers, fire sprinklers, fire alarms and fire exits throughout their kids' schools.

But many of them are outraged at the idea of putting an armed police officer in their kid's school. Our children are thousands of times more likely to be killed or seriously injured by school violence than fire, but the sheep's only response to the possibility of violence is denial. The idea of someone coming to kill or harm their child is just too hard, and so they chose the path of denial.

The sheep generally do not like the sheepdog. He looks a lot like the wolf. He has fangs and the capacity for violence. The difference, though, is that the sheepdog must not, can not and will not ever harm the sheep. Any sheep dog who intentionally harms the lowliest little lamb will be punished and removed. The world cannot work any other way, at least not in a representative democracy or a republic such as ours.

Still, the sheepdog disturbs the sheep. He is a constant reminder that there are wolves in the land. They would prefer that he didn't tell them where to go, or give them traffic tickets, or stand at the ready in our airports, in camouflage fatigues, holding an M-16. The sheep would much rather have the sheepdog cash in his fangs, spray paint himself white, and go, "Baa" until the wolf shows up. Then the entire flock tries desperately to hide behind one lonely sheepdog.

The students, the victims, at Columbine High School were big, tough high school students, and under ordinary circumstances they would not have had the time of day for a police officer. They were not bad kids; they just had nothing to say to a cop. When the school was under attack, however, and SWAT teams were clearing the rooms and hallways, the officers had to physically peel those clinging, sobbing kids off of them. This is how the little lambs feel about their sheepdog when the wolf is at the door.

Look at what happened after September 11, 2001 when the wolf pounded hard on the door. Remember how America, more than ever before, felt differently about their law enforcement officers and military personnel? Remember how many times you heard the word hero?

Understand that there is nothing morally superior about being a sheepdog; it is just what you choose to be. Also understand that a sheepdog is a funny critter: He is always sniffing around out on the perimeter, checking the breeze, barking at things that go bump in the night, and yearning for a righteous battle. That is, the young sheepdogs yearn for a righteous battle. The old sheepdogs are a little older and wiser, but they move to the sound of battle when needed, right along with the young ones.

Here is how the sheep and the sheepdog think differently.

The sheep pretend the wolf will never come, but the sheepdog lives for that day. After the attacks on September 11, 2001, most of the sheep, that is, most citizens in America said, "Thank God I wasn't on one of those planes."

The sheepdogs, the warriors, said, "Dear God, I wish I could have been on one of those planes. Maybe I could have made a difference." When you are truly transformed into a warrior and have truly invested yourself into warriorhood, you want to be there. You want to be able to make a difference.

There is nothing morally superior about the sheepdog, the warrior, but he does have one real advantage. Only one. And that is that he is able to survive and thrive in an environment that destroys 98 percent of the population.

There was research conducted a few years ago with individuals convicted of violent crimes. These cons were in prison for serious, predatory crimes of violence: assaults, murders and killing law enforcement officers. The vast majority said that they specifically targeted victims by body language: Slumped walk, passive behavior and lack of awareness. They chose their victims like big cats do in Africa, when they select one out of the herd that is least able to protect itself.

Some people may be destined to be sheep and others might be genetically primed to be wolves or sheepdogs. But I believe that most people can choose which one they want to be, and I'm proud to say that more and more Americans are choosing to become sheepdogs.

(Note: Not any more. Now most civilians are becoming sheep.)

Seven months after the attack on September 11, 2001, Todd Beamer was honored in his hometown of Cranbury, New Jersey. Todd, as you recall, was the man on Flight 93 over Pennsylvania who called on his cell phone to alert an operator from United Airlines about the hijacking. When he learned of the other three passenger planes that had been used as weapons, Todd dropped his phone and uttered the words, "Let's roll," which authorities believe was a signal to the other passengers to confront the terrorist hijackers. In one hour, a transformation occurred among the passengers - athletes, business people and parents. -- from sheep to sheepdogs and together they fought the wolves, ultimately saving an unknown number of lives on the ground.

There is no safety for honest men except by believing all possible evil of evil men. - Edmund Burke

Here is the point I like to emphasize, especially to the thousands of police officers and soldiers I speak to each year. In nature the sheep, real sheep, are born as sheep. Sheepdogs are born that way, and so are wolves. They didn't have a choice. But you are not a critter. As a human being, you can be whatever you want to be. It is a conscious, moral decision.

If you want to be a sheep, then you can be a sheep and that is okay, but you must understand the price you pay. When the wolf comes, you and your loved ones are going to die if there is not a sheepdog there to protect you. If you want to be a wolf, you can be one, but the sheepdogs are going to hunt you down and you will never have rest, safety, trust or love. But if you want to be a sheepdog and walk the warrior's path, then you must make a conscious and moral decision every day to dedicate, equip and prepare yourself to thrive in that toxic, corrosive moment when the wolf comes knocking at the door.

For example, many officers carry their weapons in church. They are well concealed in ankle holsters, shoulder holsters or inside-the-belt holsters tucked into the small of their backs. Anytime you go to some form of religious service, there is a very good chance that a police officer in your congregation is carrying. You will never know if there is such an individual in your place of worship, until the wolf appears to massacre you and your loved ones.

I was training a group of police officers in Texas, and during the break, one officer asked his friend if he carried his weapon in church. The other cop replied, "I will never be caught without my gun in church." I asked why he felt so strongly about this, and he told me about a cop he knew who was at a church massacre in Ft. Worth, Texas in 1999. In that incident, a mentally deranged individual came into the church and opened fire, gunning down fourteen people. He said that officer believed he could have saved every life that day if he had been carrying his gun. His own son was shot, and all he could do was throw himself on the boy's body and wait to die. That cop looked me in the eye and said, "Do you have any idea how hard it would be to live with yourself after that?"

Some individuals would be horrified if they knew this police officer was carrying a weapon in church. They might call him paranoid and would probably scorn him. Yet these same individuals would be enraged and would call for "heads to roll" if they found out that the airbags in their cars were defective, or that the fire extinguisher and fire sprinklers in their kids' school did not work. They can accept the fact that fires and traffic accidents can happen and that there must be safeguards against them.

Their only response to the wolf, though, is denial, and all too often their response to the sheepdog is scorn and disdain. But the sheepdog quietly asks himself, "Do you have any idea how hard it would be to live with yourself if your loved ones were attacked and killed, and you had to stand there helplessly because you were unprepared for that day?"

It is denial that turns people into sheep. Sheep are psychologically destroyed by combat because their only defense is denial, which is counterproductive and destructive, resulting in fear, helplessness and horror when the wolf shows up.

Denial kills you twice. It kills you once, at your moment of truth when you are not physically prepared: you didn't bring your gun, you didn't train. Your only defense was wishful thinking. Hope is not a strategy. Denial kills you a second time because even if you do physically survive, you are psychologically shattered by your fear, helplessness and horror at your moment of truth.

Gavin de Becker puts it like this in Fear Less, his superb post-9/11 book, which should be required reading for anyone trying to come to terms with our current world situation: "...denial can be seductive, but it has an insidious side effect. For all the peace of mind deniers think they get by saying it isn't so, the fall they take when faced with new violence is all the more unsettling."

Denial is a save-now-pay-later scheme, a contract written entirely in small print, for in the long run, the denying person knows the truth on some level. And so the warrior must strive to confront denial in all aspects of his life, and prepare himself for the day when evil comes.

If you are warrior who is legally authorized to carry a weapon and you step outside without that weapon, then you become a sheep, pretending that the bad man will not come today. No one can be "on" 24/7, for a lifetime. Everyone needs down time. But if you are authorized to carry a weapon, and you walk outside without it, just take a deep breath, and say this to yourself..."Baa."

This business of being a sheep or a sheep dog is not a yes-no dichotomy. It is not an all-or-nothing, either-or choice. It is a matter of degrees, a continuum. On one end is an abject, head-in-the-sand-sheep and on the other end is the ultimate warrior. Few people exist completely on one end or the other.

Most of us live somewhere in between. Since 9-11 almost everyone in America took a step up that continuum, away from denial. The sheep took a few steps toward accepting and appreciating their warriors, and the warriors started taking their job more seriously. The degree to which you move up that continuum, away from sheephood and denial, is the degree to which you and your loved ones will survive, physically and psychologically at your moment of truth.