Taken moments ago: A reflection of the plane in the engine.
I used to marvel at how the DMV was the great equalizer — no matter your status, income or personal hygiene, you had to pick a number, buddy, and wait your turn.
Commercial air travel, exceedingly affordable, is quickly taking its place. The realities of the jet age combine the brightest and most-mundane of humanity.
Consider that one of humankind’s greatest achievements — flight, en masse — is met with the guy digging up his nose for gold, two rows back. Great minds have mastered the physics, engineering, manufacturing, economics and piloting on behalf of those of us who have not mastered the use of tissue, ahem.
(I am composing this blog post at cruising altitude, via Delta’s free wi-fi, sponsored by Google Chrome! Sweet!)
Given how easy it is to book a ticket, is it any wonder that the U.S. Transportation Security Administration has enacted its new and intense screening rules? The agency exists to keep travelers safe — and that is what it is trying to do.
I’ve had a lot of time to contemplate these things of late. In the past four weeks, I’ve flown nine times, been naked-scanned twice, received a chest pat once and even received a “special pat down,” for wearing a skirt.
Some of it was slightly embarrassing, but, the TSA folks were courteous and even apologetic.
After the screenings, I tried to muster some outrage of the sort that I’m reading about around the nation: Open declarations that the screenings are unconstitutional. Hilarious mockery from the Canadians. Concern about the feelings of sex-assault victims. The guy who told a TSA worker, “If you touch my junk, I’ll have you arrested.” (The Daily Mail, in the UK, has a photographic summary of the U.S. reaction, including photos of the woman who wore a bikini through the security checkpoint.)
As for me? I’m having trouble getting worked up about it. Every argument I come up with is shot down with two-word rebuttals. Plastic explosives. Underwear bomber. Who knows.
As Jeff Foxworthy would croon, redneck-style, “Well thanks fer spoilin’ it fer evrybody else!”
TSA should be challenged, on a national scale, through the courts. America is stronger for its checks and balances. However, I’m not a fan of the micro-protests, hammering on the people who are just following orders. It’s not “us” travelers against “them” TSA agents. It’s “us” who desire to land after takeoff versus “them” who’d like to kill us.
Up here at cruising altitude, I am secretly glad that everyone went through the same intense security screenings that I did. Even nose picker guy.
Thus, I’ve packed my dignity in my checked luggage. It should meet me upon arrival at the gate.
I like your closing line. My mother-in-law is furious about it. I haven’t experienced it yet, but I would most certainly choose the naked scan. Easier to separate myself. I’ve also learned recently in my Introduction to Physics in Medicine class that very low doses of x-rays do not add up quite as neatly as some people think and that we experience much higher radiation in the form of environmental radon. Not only that, but there are astronomically higher health risks from smoking, obesity, and driving.
I like this line:
It’s not “us” travelers against “them” TSA agents. It’s “us” who desire to land after takeoff versus “them” who’d like to kill us.
So true! Sometimes we get so bogged down with details that we lose sight of our real goal: to get to our destination.
It is the same paranoid crap that you see with every mother in the world having to pick up her kid from school these days even though the kids stand a better chance of being struck by lightning than hurt by some stranger. We live in a very sick world. In many respects. And usually our mass reactions are the sickest–not the very isolated situations that bring about the reactions.
@Meg: I agree on “easier to separate myself” — I just tune out, too. Thanks for adding the bit about the radiation, I’ve been wondering about the science on that.
@Alexis: You’re so good at extrapolating life lessons!! 🙂
@Michael: But, isn’t that what being a mother is about? Yes, at some point you have to let go, but I think most moms err on the side of “better to be safe than sorry.” It’s biology.
Well, all I know is that when I was growing up I walked thirty miles to school and back every day, and it all was uphill–both ways. And I did it in my bare feet just to build character.