Reply #42: Insane. Was your son scared? [View All]

When mine was a bit younger then that he broke a bottle of juice helping me as we were checking out at the grocery store. A man in uniform came over and looked at his eyes with a flashlight to make sure the shattered glass hadn't hit his eyes. Very nice but my son thought he was being arrested breaking the jar for a second.

That's what came to mind when I thought of your 10 year old being screened for so long. (What can they do that takes so long for a child?) That he might have been scared they thought he did something wrong.

But here is what makes this so stupid. In Dec 2001 my same son was all grown up. He was flying home after Christmas and in his carry on luggage had a couple 6 packs of beer sold in our area not sold in the state that he lives on. Glass bottles of beer. I warned him they would never allow that, a bottle could be smashed and made into a weapon. It could have something besides beer in it. They would just take it away from him. With the certainty of youth he said there wouldn't be a problem. Naive.

But he was correct. He even changed planes two times, he wasn't challenged at all. He is not a terrorist but how did they know. Why would they let people bring glass on a plane.

At the same time a friends husband was flying. Because of his profession he has a sort of briefcase he carries some sensitive tools in. You can't see into it with x-rays. He knew they'd have to open it. They didn't bother. He could have had anything in there.

Feel safe?