I woke up this morning to find out what most of the news-following world knew yesterday. Some cretin walked onto a college campus and shot lots of people, more than 30! It's hard to believe that such things happen and I am very sorry for all the people who died or were injured. I'm sorry for their parent, friends and collegues too.
On the other hand I am afraid that this incident, terrible as it is, will be an excuse for further eroding the day to day trust among people.
Last week I was required not only to sign in with full personal contact information but also to leave my drivers liscence with the guard. Was I spending hours in a high security facility maybe a jail or courthouse or legislative building? Was I visiting at some sensitive commercial site? Maybe a R&D building for a new energy system? No not one of these. Wait for it, I was at a High school to collect my 17 year old neice from the nurses office. The office door was 20 feet from the guard station and in full view of the guard. I was in the building for less time than it took for the check in proceedure yet was I allowed to step down to the nurses office? NO In the town I grew up in, in the school building I pay heavy taxes for, I was practically phisically prevented from walking down the hall to get my neice without producing all the formal nicities.
When and where has any sort of public danger come from a middle age female who said they were picking a kid up from school? What kind of risks is the school running by letting me walk down the hall to get her? If I had run off and disappeared around the corner then maybe they might have been justified in investigating waht I was doing but no, they assume the worst.
This security issue has gone over the top. There might be some justification for requiring some people to take off their shoes at airport check in security but what possible justification is there for making everyone? My daughter nearly missed a plane recently partially because she was required to remove the shoes of the two toddlers that she was travelling with! That is just overkill. For years El Al, the Isralei Airline, has had real security at their check-in areas. It must work, no one has blown up or hijacked any of their planes but they don't feel the need to make toddlers take their shoes off to do it. Why can't the TSA be as clever?
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1 comment:
It wasn't that bad...B's right shoe was already off!!!
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