Partly Cloudy / 37° FEditorial: Don’t complain about the shoes
Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2009
On the same day that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano finally admitted airport security failed in preventing Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab from smuggling enough explosive material onto Northwest flight 253, bound for Detroit on Christmas day, to blow a hole in the plane, the same day President Obama vowed to find those responsible for plotting the act of terrorism – reports were that the tighter restrictions on airport security practices had been lifted.
Contradictory at the very least.
Still the likelihood that security measures won’t increase following the latest attempt to attack America through the air is small.
Taking off our shoes and carrying no more than three ounces of liquid on board with us – a hassle when first instituted – may soon become a luxury of the past.
The complaints about those shoes in the beginning were many. Going through security at the airport these days has become something of a dance. Passengers try to get all their baggage, the plastic baggie with all their three ounce bottles of shampoo and shaving cream, their belts, jackets and shoes up on the belt quickly and efficiently to keep the line moving. When they come through on the other side, it’s more like a rite of passage, whether hurrying to pull the shoes back on right up at the table or juggling all their belongings to the nearest chair to get back in order, when one has made it through to the other side there is a sense of relief. The hassle is over, let us enjoy the flight.
Security measures are not imposed for no reason. They are to keep innocent people inherently safe in the uncertain skies.
The attempt of Abdulmutallab on Christmas day sent out a strong sense of eerie. As the decade comes to a close, the incident served as a very important reminder.
The decade began with chilling images of the shadows of an airplane over the streets of Manhattan, pieces of aircraft at the foot of the Pentagon and thousands of American lives lost. It began with a change in the way we live, travel and relate to the world around us.
As it comes to a close, we were reminded in the days before its end that the way we live, the way we travel and the way we relate to the world around us is always changing.
And if it means waiting in line a little longer before we can rest easy in an airport Starbucks, if it means making our flights home a little safer, well … the last thing we should do is complain about the shoes.
