Clipped Wings
Deborah Venable
08/17/06
After
spending over half my adult life in employment that necessitated my using
commercial airlines to get back and forth to work, I am reflecting on the fact
that I saw an awful lot of changes during that time. Airline travel was an exciting experience once upon a time –
something to look forward to. I saw it
from the early days of passenger jet travel all the way through the nineties,
but I will probably never see the inside of a passenger plane again before I die. In fact, I will probably never see the
inside of another airport again. The
closest I will come is the passenger pick up and delivery lane at the terminal
to drop off or pick up someone who does not know that, if nothing else, the war
on terror has tromped on freedom in America like nothing else ever has.
I
am continually amazed that Americans are so scared silly that they have allowed
it and willingly accept that it is perfectly okay for Federal employees to
treat each and every American citizen like a criminal in order for air travel
to be “safe”. This mindset will
continue to eat away at our freedom and way of life in this country. Today, my wings have been clipped forever,
but tomorrow I will be lucky to have any feathers left!
I
put up with it myself for awhile – just not to the extent that I would have to
submit to today. I draw the line at the
expectation that I am a terrorist and
may be scrutinized – my belongings and my person – by government paid folks who
probably couldn’t flip a decent hamburger at McDonalds.
Back
in the old days of air travel, I was able to carry my guns through the
airports, board a plane and hand them to a stewardess, (that’s what they were
called back then) to hold in the forward compartment where passengers’ suit
bags were hung for the duration of the flight.
I collected them when I left the plane and no one thought the worst of
me for it. Then, too many flights
started to be hijacked to Cuba, so that all changed and my luggage had to be
scrutinized for “weapons” while I walked through metal detectors. Okay, so what if I had to explain that the
breast pump I carried in my carry-on bag was not a gun that I intended to use
in a hijacking – in front of God and everybody at the airport? That was cool. It was for my safety after all.
So what?
After
911, airport security was severely ramped up, the screeners were Federalized,
and I swore off flying permanently. I
don’t expect it to get any better in my lifetime. I must wonder, though, how many folks out there are putting up
with this because they are in the same position I used to be – having to depend
on air travel to get them back and forth to work? I spent an awful lot of time in the “friendly skies” during the
seventies and eighties, and on into the early nineties because my job demanded
it. I’ve traveled alone and loaded down
with briefcase, carry-on, document tubes etc.
I’ve traveled pregnant, with my children when they were babies, and with
my mother after she became wheelchair bound.
That would be a nightmare now.
The
changes to how normal citizens are handled at airports are certainly bad
enough, but I read an article from the Orlando Sentinel recently that really
made my blood boil. Evidently, if you
are military personnel returning home from or going to a war theater you are
handled with special scrutiny by today’s Federalized airport screeners. The public response to this that I have
heard is far from outrage. Why should I
expect anything else in today’s screwed up America?
The
only outrage I have seen lately is directed against those who would see
the real terrorists as enemies.
Everybody seems to want to cozy up to bad guys and “understand” them. Understand this – they are making a mockery
of freedom in this country, and we are helping them do it. Perhaps THAT was their goal all along.
Keep
telling yourself that the government has every right to treat you like a
criminal to “keep you safe” and the day will come that you will either be
a criminal or you will be hidden away somewhere, living underground, hiding
your every move, and hoping your feathers grow back before you are roasted in
your own juices in the fires of hell. As for me, I don’t expect my wings to
grow back, but I refuse to live in hell while I’m waiting.
So,
now that I have ranted, what do I propose as a solution? (Because I get really exasperated with folks
who complain but have no plan to make changes that fix it.) Well, somehow or other Americans have to be
convinced to get on the same page again.
That doesn’t mean that we all have to think alike about every issue, but
it does mean that we should all decide whether or not we wish to live free of
terror or be enslaved by it. No amount
of war on it (terror) will make us truly secure from the effects of it, but if
we don’t come to the realization that anyone fighting a war had better be
armed, and not disarmed, we haven’t got a prayer. I made the conscious decision that the
requirements of air travel are something that I can’t live with, so I certainly
do not intend to spend my money, supporting the airline travel industry,
including the government agency that screens travelers, any more. Are there enough people who feel as I do out
there to make a difference? I doubt
it.
Even
staunch conservative Constitutionalists are buying into the rationalization of
bartering freedoms for security, so I expect that I am once again a lone wolf
howling at the moon on this one. I’ve
been there before. I don’t personally
believe that God created me so that man could rule my every move. The word “privilege” is replacing the word
“right” more and more these days. Man
gives privileges – God gives rights.
Think about it. Before rights
can be taken away, God must be defiled and removed from the scope of man’s
privileges. Traveling in this country
used to be a right – now it is a privilege.
If you want to be terrified about something, think about that one. Anybody care to make a guess how long it
will be before your privilege to drive an automobile requires you to carry an
ID card that contains every bit of personal information about you – far beyond
the requirements of the driver’s license we have today – and file travel plans
with your friendly neighborhood travel screeners in advance of making a simple
road trip? With what I have seen happen
in the last few decades, it shouldn’t be long now. So, I am living with clipped wings, what happens when my legs are
amputated? Do I slither on my belly for
the rest of my life? Where does it
end?
My
solution? Let’s go back to letting
people make their own “choices” (how I hate the sarcastic implications of that
word) about the risks they will take.
Let’s stop assuming that the best way to protect everyone is to assume
that all are criminals or potential terrorists and treat them as such. Let’s start letting the people who are
fighting and dying so that we can have all these privileges at least have THEIR
rights back. I don’t want to hear that
anyone can get a military uniform and misuse it to secure passage without
screening, so we have to scrutinize every uniform to keep that from
happening. Hell, let’s play the numbers
here, shall we? We can take “security”
too far without ever achieving it! I
think that is precisely what’s been done.
In
order to achieve victory in the war on terror, we must get ahead of the
terrorists instead of lagging behind and letting them blaze the trail to the
battleground. Here’s the battleground –
if you happen to fit the profile of known terrorists, YOU will be
strip-searched everywhere you go. YOUR
travel plans will have to be filed and YOUR privileges will be limited. If you are innocent and don’t like it, then
YOU can get on the same page with all the innocent little old ladies, American
soldiers and honest to God gun toting rednecks that don’t fit the profile and
help root out the guilty ones living in your own back yards so we can all get
back to growing our plumage and enjoying our God given gifts of human rights in
a free society.