Out of hand TSA

Thank goodness I am not one of the many having to travel the "not so friendly skys" this holiday season! Or anytime for that matter. More and more we hear stories of passengers put through embarrassing, undignified, and demeaning pat downs and full-body scans as they go through the security gates at our nations airports. Today there was an article on MSN Travel News whereby a gentleman, 61 years of age, a retired special education teacher, on his way to a wedding, was subjected to what amounts to much more than simply a 'pat down"... as was his right this man requested a private search as he is a cancer survivor who must wear a urostomy bag to collect urine from an opening in his stomach. He had had to remove his belt at the scanner, and when taken to the private room, his pants, two sizes too large in order to accommodate his medical equipment, fell down to the floor. How humiliating, and frightening, for anyone...standing before strangers in uniform who have adopted an attitude of control and annoyance (made me think of my son in prison, who routinely is subjected to this type of search, and worse) . In performing the "pat down" the screener knocked the bag and caused urine to leak out onto the gentlemans body. This poor man then had to leave the room, covered in urine, proceed to his gate, board his plane, and was unable to clean himself up until the flight was well underway.

Another recent story involves a woman, a longtime flight attendant and cancer survivor, who was ordered to remove her prosthetic breast during the screening process. And then again, today I watched a video on UTube where a very young boy was virtually being stripped of his clothing and patted down by screeners. If that was my child and some strange man, an airport "employee," was touching my child in such a manner I would be furious. I really had no idea things had gotten this out of hand! Its been at least a year or more since Rod and I have had to fly anywhere. We prefer to drive on our twice yearly trips back to Washington....we have both gotten tired of the whole exhaustive process involved in flying anywhere anymore...the lines, the delays, the screening, the rude employees at the airports that we encounter, the tiny crowded airplanes, the new costs for luggage, no meals or snax...who needs this right? And to have to pay premium prices to boot!

If it really has gotten this much worse (last we flew we were not subjected to such invasive procedures) we will surely only be flying somewhere in the event of an emergency! Where will this end? Just how much are we willing to give up to "feel" safer? Because ultimately there is never a guarantee of safety in this life, no matter what price we pay.

It seems these stories are starting to come out of the woodwork now, more and more of them, as well as lawsuits against the TSA. And so today, a news release tells us the TSA expresses "possible" flexibility with screening proceedures. With 1.9 million people flying this Thanksgiving holiday, I certainly hope so. I shudder to think of the unhappy experience flying over the holiday will be.

In a state-run society the government promises you security. But it's a false promise predicated on the idea that the opposite of security is risk. Nothing could be further from the truth. The opposite of security is insecurity, and the only way to overcome insecurity is to take risks. The gentle government that promises to hold your hand as you cross the street refuses to let go on the other side. ~Theodore Forstmann