Don’t know about all this security business …
Take airports, for example.
Went to one the other day
expecting the usual stuff: metal-detectors going off,
solemn guy stepping forward to motion me aside,
explanation (with gestures) to indicate
triple-bypass staples (pretty normal these days)
two hip transplants (offer to show scars)
patting down (deft, gentle, respectful),
then request to take off joggers or whatever footwear
—and then away you go, feeling
purified in a way, reassured
another country in the very best of hands …
But last time it was a different airline
(no name, no pack-drill, but it’s a synonym
for an innocent person) and I went through without
raising any alarm at all,
so … none of the above!
You can imagine
how I felt: disappointed: why, I might have been
a terrorist (an elderly one, anyway …).
But I just couldn’t let it stop there,
discussed the situation (sotto voce) with the missus
who started to move away from me a bit
then went up to the attractive little blonde
on the arrivals desk and explained my worry;
her heavy make-up could have somewhat masked
her real reaction, but she assured me quietly
that airport security was handled by a private firm
and urged me to approach them and express my concern …
Which I then did, and this meant going downstairs
and going through the metal-detector again
—this time the alarm went off—being a little deaf
I didn’t actually hear it, but there was still
no follow-up procedure (none at all!),
no being taken aside, patted down, which between you and me
I always rather liked,
no taking off footwear to put through the scanner …
It was like I didn’t really exist in the full sense at all,
and I could feel a ghostliness creeping over me then
so that I haven’t felt the same about airports ever since.
When I discussed with my wife the possibility
of going through it a third time,
but she didn’t agree at all (she had accompanied me
the second time around); she also pointed out to me
in very measured tones that if I insisted
she’d leave me at the airport and since I had no ID,
and no driver’s licence
no money and no credit cards
I might have a hard time ever getting out (or home) …
But I still keep asking myself this question:
was I being foolish, or just an extraordinarily responsible
citizen? What do you think?