Here’s an inevitable truth for you.
No matter where we go, what we do, or who we are, people won’t always like each other and might even cause harm to one another.
It happens on a small scale with picking on each other. Then there are the massive attacks, like September 11, that end up hurting tons of people. It sucks, but stuff happens.
And when that stuff happens, people tend to create stupid, unnecessary hassles in hopes of “preventing” something bad from ever happening again. It’s the reason why some schools have metal detectors, why you get a pat down going into a Rockies game, and the reason why you have to get to DIA 14 hours before your flight is supposed to leave.
Frankly, I’m sick of it.
I’m sick of the rules, I’m sick of the precautions, and above all, I’m sick of the fear.
A lot changed after September 11 and I’d say it’s time we get over it. It was a terrible tragedy but when push comes to shove, we’re still the same people living in the same country. The fact that we changed our way of life, added some useless color coded warning system and can’t even say “Mohammed” on South Park, tells me one thing- the terrorists have won.
People can’t bring simple toiletries on planes and we all have to take off our shoes at the airport despite the fact that only one or two people per year fail at trying to take down an airplane. All this to stop two out of half a billion people?
Congrats, we’re living in fear.
Maybe we should cut the B.S., let the dog off the leash and go back to a time where when a person said, “if you say that, we will cause major harm,” we called their bluff. If they acted on it, so be it, but a stupid security measure isn’t going to keep an angry person from taking out their wrath on the world.
Imagine for a moment, if you will, being able to go to an airport and greet your family at the gate like we used to be able to do or being able to go to a major concert or sporting event without getting the equivalent of a body cavity search.
We can’t follow the Dwight Schrute philosophy of “better 1,000 innocent men locked up than one guilty man go free.” Instead, we should let the free be free.
If a nut job goes psycho, it is what it is. No matter what happens, our country will still have to pick up the pieces and move on. The security measures we put in place prevent what we think will happen and the sociopaths who wish us harm probably are going to find other tactics, so what’s the point of a guessing game?
As a country, we are better than this. We shouldn’t be living in fear because something might happen. Instead, let’s step out and enjoy the fresh air. Let’s get back to spending money, having fun and doing whatever the hell we want. Bad things will happen but we should cross that bridge when we come to it.