January 2002
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January 18 I suppose it's going to be considered unpatriotic to say this, but I really hate that all the extra security measures have to be put into effect at the airports. I have always loved flying, but monetary considerations aside, I really don't want to be bothered with it these days. I don't want to have to pack my needlework into checked luggage so I won't have my implements confiscated. I don't want to have my shoes examined for explosives. I don't want the underwire in my bra to set off some alarm that will get me frisked. So I would have to really, really want to go somewhere before I'd bother. And I hate that. I've been flying since before anyone really worried much about any security beyond not letting some drunk fly the plane. I remember when the first security measures were put into place, and we had to have our hand luggage and purses x-rayed. That could be amusing, to watch your prized posessions and your packing skills be scrutinized in black and gray. And also amusing was was a friend of mine yelling out, "I told you to leave the gun at home!" when something in my purse made a guard suspicious. It turned out the guard was looking at my nose spray bottle---I never did find out if she thought it was a weapon or thought I had some illegal drugs on me. Or maybe she was just bored---it was a slow day at the Charleston airport. And I want to go back to those days, when although we did worry a bit about planes being skyjacked, we were not really afraid of each other. When we felt safe enough to be amused at the metal detector finding out that someone had a pocket full of change or keys. There's certainly nothing funny about the threat of being on a plane with someone whose goal is to commit suicide and take me along. There is nothing at all amusing about being afraid. I want to return to a time when that fear was not necessary. And if I knew how to make that happen, I would snap my fingers and make it be so.