Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Knives on planes


Boys raised on farms carry pocket knives.  They are good for cleaning fingernails, peeling potatoes, or cutting the strings on straw bales.  I have one in my pocket as I type this.

But, being the sophisticated air traveller that I am, I knew the TSA representatives (I almost wrote “goons,” but they are just doing their jobs) would confiscate my knife, so I packed it in my suitcase when we flew to California in February.

On the way back I forgot.  I was already in the line when I realized my pocket knife was in my pocket, just where it was supposed to be.  I slipped it into in my backpack, which goes through the Xray machine, but I knew they’d spot it.  They did. I was flagged and told I could go back and put it in my suitcase.  Are you kidding?  Go through the whole hassle again.  So I lost a pocket knife.  

As you may guess, I welcome the new procedure which allows people to carry small knives and sports equipment on planes.  I think the whole TSA process is nuts.  Think of the millions of people who have to take off their shoes because ONE guy had a bomb in his shoe--WHICH DID NOT EXPLODE.

We have become a nation of paranoids and wimps.

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