"" Writer's Wanderings: Airport Security - A Brave New World?

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Airport Security - A Brave New World?


Having just flown twice in the last month and thinking of our children and grandchildren flying home for Thanksgiving, I am of course taking great interest in the controversy over the new TSA policies. We did not go through the new backscatter machine or experience the new "pat down" that some are comparing to a "feel up." I cannot speak from experience but the anticipation of many flights in the near future does make me anxious and concerned.

This last trip was with my 89 year old mother-in-law who was confused enough about what she needed to do to get through security. I prayed she wouldn't be put in the back scatter machine or subjected to a pat down. Both times God answered prayer and we made it through without a hitch.

Now I wonder how my children and especially my young grandchildren will fare? We constantly teach our youngsters that they should never let anyone touch them inappropriately in private areas. My one daughter-in-law taught this so well that I had a difficult time once helping my three-year-old granddaughter rearrange her skirt in a trip to the bathroom. "Grandma, you can't look at my private part," she kept repeating even though her parts were covered. Now if she flies, she just might have someone looking at those parts even though they are covered.

Yes, I want to feel safe on a plane flight but I don't want to feel violated before I get on that plane.
What ever happened to the idea of prescreening for travelers? Doesn't it seem logical that it would take less time in security lines if passengers could be issued some sort of ID for travel? Even if it meant a fingerprint on file it would at least be less physically invasive.

And what is next? Trains with security lines? Buses with backscatter machines? Will Homeland Security decide that before we do our Christmas shopping at the mall we need to go through a security line?

Aldous Huxley and George Orwell move over. It's 2010 and this is not a brave new world.

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