Hello Cariis.,
Being "Vigilant" is somewhat nebulous, so I understand your confusion.
What it means to be AWARE and observant of your surroundings at all times and if you see anything suspicous that looks like it could be terrorist activity, then do not be afraid to call LE to have them check it out.
It reminds me of the previous article that you may have shared with us that described how the neighbor of the 2 guys actually got suspicous and went into his apartment while they went shopping because they seemed to be up to no good. The only problem is they did not take the next step and call LE when they saw the guns. There were also other neighbors of his that became aware that those 2 acted strangely by praying extremely loudly. The neighbors all took the 1st steps of being "vigilant" but the 2nd critical step would have been to act on that suspicoun. And it does NOT mean to take matters into your own hands. It means to call LE if you witness and become aware of someone who is behaving like a terrorist would.
It is not easy to be "vigilant" because it requires of us those main 2 things. 1st--being aware, and 2nd---taking some law abiding action if necessary.
Both steps we are not good at. For #1, we typically do not do that and we typically walk around with our IPODS and Phones to our ears and we dont pay attention to our surroundings. And even if we are good at #1, we usually fail at #2. Most of us dont want to get involved with anything. We mind our own business and do not like to go outside our norms.
In this day and age, we must be vigilant and become good at both #1 + #2. We cannot be afraid of failure if we call LE about a suspicous neighbor and they turn out to just be a normal but very odd person. LE would not be upset if we made an honest mistake trying to do the right thing.
Hope this helps Cariis.
If I had a identical event with a neighbor (hard to grasp!) I would not contact LE either. THey would come, and even if they had illigal juns, they would be arrested, out by noon and now I have two neighbors, who are angry enough to stockpile an army, right next door to me.
LE would tell me there is nothing they can do to keep me safe until they try to chop my skull off the top of the body, so I would end up living in fear, until they killl me or do something to get locked up!
I am proud to report that myself and one other person , I think on Venus, refuse to have a cell phone. From day one I thought they were obnoxious. This is back when they were only phones. My sense back then is the world survived without being "telephone" hard wired 24/7 and shall continue to do so.
At that time I had no idea how wise I was, in light of the hideous impact the little monsters have grown into. They are directly responsible for our youth not being able to have a conversation with another human being. THey have fooled the world into believing they save time. They do nothing of the sort.
Before them, you and I wanted to meet for dinner next wed we said : You want to have dinner next wed? You said yes, what time? I said 8, you said see you then . At 8 on Wed the following week you and I showed up and pulled out our seats and chewed some food together and talked.
Fast forward today , in an effort at a chuckle i shall attempt todays shorthand
u dina wed
yo bro i be there bro
what time (could not come up with anything)
yo bro u know i make no times i text u yo bmy bro bff
yo i wait fur ya
on dude yo bro
The next day (Igo back to more real communication!)
Yo bro whatcha ya wanna eat next week
yo bro not sure let me text you later
yo bro you like BBQ
maybe i text you later
the next day
yo ro wanna hang at XXXX
yo bro sounds good
yo bro i be there
next day
yo bro i was thinking about going to xx instead of xx
u jiving with that vibe bro bbf
bro not sure yet ill text
next day
yo bro lets meet at *advertiser censored*
sure bro ok we down
the day of meeting for a bite to eat at 8PM
1 PM: you bro thinking about asking jen tongiht
bro cool
1:38 Yo bro jen can come but not till 830
bro great
228 PM br maybe we should go to XX instead of cc
315 PM you bro ok let me check with X
412 PM yo bro waiting to hear
458 PM yo bro just let me know
536 PM yo bro I think jen wants to go to X
618 PM yo bro i am cool either way let me know
645 PM yo bro will let you know
715 PM yo bro maybe running late i will let you know
722 PM yo bro no prob just text me
745 PM yo bro if your gonna be late I am gonna stop for gas
758 PM cool bro , I think i am about 25 minutes away
810PM cool bro , I think i will stop by X house ill be there in 45 min
828 cool bro, i am later than i thought will text you when i know
845 ok bro i will be there in about half an hour
905 bro i am here
922 bro where are you
935 PM should be there in about 15 min
957 PM in parking lot
SO, now that the three people have made it to the table, to be 23 inches away from one another, after all sit down, the three of them are on there phones for the rest of dinner, texting to people not at the table! I have always thought , goodness, if the three of you met here, but have lots of things to "say" , to other people, obviously not at the table, why dont you just invite them to the dinner to and then you can all talk!!!
Compare and contrast. FOrget the notion that legislation has to hold committee hearings, for years now, to figure out if typing while driving might impact the capability to operate a 5 ton vehicle at 75 mph.
Imagine , 30 years ago, getting pulled over, and the cop sees the typewriter in your lap!
They give permission for noone to be on time, like an adult. They give folks a absolute inabilty to commit to anything until the last minute. THe prohbit the human being from turning off, look around at traffic lights, everyone is texting. Watch people in a checkout line of 5 people. Most do not have the capacity any longer, to be "still" and wait.
One is still for 4 minutes , out comes the cell phone to "take care of something"
I am sure those of you with kids have become conditioned to you asking one of your kids the theory of evolution, getting back a nine word reponse!
Rant over, I think they are horrible, and this generations capacity to manage marriage, which requires utterences longer than 9 words, is gonna be a social failure society has yet to experience.
I am done, have shared - hat