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 Some things are
better left unsaid. Everyone is aware of the restrictions, which
have been placed upon us since the attacks of last year. Anyone
flying is certainly familiar with the questions asked when you
arrive at the airport. These include….”Has anyone other than you
handled your luggage? Has your luggage been in your possession
since you left home? Has anyone given anything to you to carry for
him or her? Did you pack your own luggage?”
Now, I would imagine that the US
taxpayers paid several zillion bucks for some think tank somewhere
to sit around and devise those insightful questions, wouldn’t you?
I always answer the questions in the proper manner rather than
asking if these really make any sense. I was behind a gentleman
once when he was asked if he had packed his own suitcase and he
replied…”No, my wife did it for me.” At which point the agent at
the counter pressed some secret button and several heavily armed
individuals in various uniforms came and surrounded him.
He was still there trying to explain
that his wife always made certain he had the proper number of
socks and shorts…and he didn’t think she was capable of anything
terroristic. What kind of a question is…”Has anyone given you
anything to carry for them?” anyway? Unless you have been living
in a cave for the past twenty-five or so years, what normal person
would accept anything from some stranger at any time? You can’t
even give away a piece of gum or a breath mint these days. I’m
serious, I’ll be sitting on a plane and break open a new package
of those little breath things in the can and offer one to the
person who is sitting on either side of me and have yet to have
anyone take one from me. Folks sitting with you won’t even take an
offered bag of peanuts.
Now, here you are sharing both sides
of your entire body with complete strangers for hours at a time
due to the space limitations of modern day cattle transportation,
excuse me, airline transportation and everyone is so paranoid they
won’t even take a dumb mint out of a brand new box when it’s
opened right in front of their eyes. It is beyond me to think that
you could walk up to some total stranger and say…”Pardon me,
sir, but would you mind checking this small box with your
luggage.?” Right. I know that’s going to happen. Now, the point of
all of this is to advise you that after a year, the airlines have
been told by the government that they no longer have to ask these
questions. Why did they change their mind? I’m glad you asked.
Another think tank research group was
commissioned and paid (think another couple of zillion bucks) to
see if the questions had any effect on potential terrorists. Now,
sit down when I tell you that their findings indicated that if a
person was determined to do something like destroy an airplane and
themselves…they would probably lie to the people at the check in
counters. Can you believe it? Did they truthfully think that a
person demented enough to do something as unspeakable as what we
saw on 9/11 of last year would have this sudden pang of conscience
and blurt out what they had been planning or had in mind?
How dumb is this? I know these people
mean well, but let’s get real…the little old lady in the walker
isn’t the type who goes to school to learn how to do these
things…..sure, someone might get nervous when asked some
questions, but maybe we need to develop different questions for
different scenarios so that people can’t get prepared for the
answers in advance. Kind of like the pop quizzes you used to get
in school. Those, as you recall, were the toughest since you never
knew what you were going to be asked. Wouldn’t bother me…except if
they asked about my ratio of socks to underwear…it should be one
to one…but somehow I nearly always get out of synch with one or
the other…..I’d be hard pressed for giving the correct answer to
one like…”So, where are your other three pairs of briefs….Mr.
Perry?” I’d miss the plane for sure.
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