I will be flying

to Europe in a few months and I am terrified.

I am not scared

of someone trying to detonate his shoes or hold the flight hostage with

a box cutter, but rather of losing patience during the pre-boarding screening

process and ending up naked and hogtied in a holding cell.

Last week,

airline baggage screening rules got tighter. Airlines now must conduct

"positive bag matching" and/or screen them by machine, canine

or hand. It is recommended that you get to the airport several hours before

your flight and "pack some extra patience." Right.

None of these

"baggage screening rules" would have prevented the World Trade

Center Attacks and yet that is obviously why the rules have been tightened.

People say that as long as it ensures their safety, they can tolerate

all the restrictions in the world, even if it means taking off their shoes

to prove they don't have C-4 in them. I wonder if they would be so eager

to please if the "shoe bomber" had C-4 somewhere else on his

body.

I realize that

we must take these threats seriously, but we also have to be reasonable.

Much like the insane "zero tolerance" policies at schools that

suspend children for carrying keychains or sewing kits to home economics

classes, these rules make little sense and have little value.

If you have

a nail clipper on you at the airport, security will confiscate it. Nail

clippers! If you stood up on your flight and said, "I am taking this

flight hostage with nail clippers," the rest of the passengers would

be laughing hysterically, while they beat you soundly with a fire extinguisher

and tied you up with their belts and shoelaces.

We will never

be 100 percent safe and we never were. There is a risk of dying when you

drive to the grocery store (a big risk if it is in the Pavilion in Fayetteville)

and there is a risk when you fly. I agree that security should be on the

ball and should screen luggage but it should be done quickly and efficiently.

You don't have to strip search 80-year-old grandmothers and you don't

have to take away their sewing kits.

We must not

assume that everyone can be a terrorist because it creates they type of

frightened environment that these maniacs wanted to create. Yes, we should

be careful and yes, we should do everything in our power to make sure

the events of Sept. 11 are never repeated. But we should use common sense

and discretion and get things moving again.

Let's roll.

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