Questions of Security

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?