Thursday, November 18, 2010

Don't Touch My Junk

Flying has never been one of my favorite things to do.  Even before 9/11, I just didn't like flying.  It wasn't that I was particularly nervous or afraid of flying, it was more just the amount of time spent at the airport waiting for my flight.  Plus, let's face it, planes are just loud, cramped, and generally uncomfortable.

I still remember my first flight.  It was a flight from Maryland to California for an assessment center to test for a promotion with the company I was working for at the time.  The person sitting next to me was a wreck.  She was holding on to her armrests, white knuckled the whole way up.  When we got in the air, she turned to me and apologized for how nervous she was.  I asked her if it was her first flight.  Turns out it wasn't. Had I known that, I might have been a little more nervous that I was.

Of course, since 9/11, flying has gotten considerably more complicated.  I remember when my wife and son could sit with me at the gate until my flight took off or meet me when I landed.  Now you need a ticket to get close.  Every year, security has gotten tighter and tighter, until we have gotten to where we are today.  Now we have scanners that essentially can take a nude photo of you or you can be subject to the now infamous new patdown policy from the TSA Agents.
I fully understand the uproar out there over the new screening procedures.  Nude photo or groped by a stranger?  Not much of a choice.  I wouldn't want either of those options either.  Having said that, on those occasions where I have to travel for business, if I have to choose one or the other, I would probably opt for the scanner.  Though it might be fun to tell the agent "a little more to the left please" while they are performing the patdown.

As I said, I understand the outrage.  However, at the same time, I do not understand the logic of some, like this one lady I heard call in to Sean Hannity's radio program.  She felt that people should not stand for these new procedures and should boycott the airports.  The sad thing with this narrow mindedness is that would have no impact on the TSA.  It would only impact the airlines, retail shops, restaurants, and the workers that are employed at the airports.  It would only harm those folks.

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