{"id":106,"date":"2005-02-24T02:53:36","date_gmt":"2005-02-24T02:53:36","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2006-04-08T12:37:16","modified_gmt":"2006-04-08T18:37:16","slug":"strung-out-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bittermancircle.com\/?p=106","title":{"rendered":"Strung Out"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb_share_1\" style=\"clear:left; float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-top:10px;;width: 55px;\" name=\"fb_share\"><div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#appId=125029517579627&amp;xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/www.bittermancircle.com\/?p=106\" send=\"false\" layout=\"box_count\" width=\"55\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\"><\/fb:like><\/div><p>10\/11\/02<\/p>\n<p>The transition of travel since 9\/11 is a story of<br \/>\nextremes. Those who fly on a regular basis have learned what to check and what you can carry on. In the first year there have been some inconsistencies in the criteria. The obvious items are not in question.<br \/>\nFollowing the Richard Reid incident, shoes are regularly pulled from<br \/>\nfeet and passed through the x-ray machine. As the rules changed and the<br \/>\npersonnel tried to adapt, certain things became strange.<\/p>\n<p>I was flying out of a Southern Californian airport,<br \/>\nalready having made sure that all my tools were far away in my<br \/>\nsuitcase, even the dull drum key I carry for work there after a<br \/>\nscreener spent nearly two minutes inspecting it three inches from the<br \/>\nend of his nose. I&#8217;m used to having all my pens checked and having to<br \/>\ntake a sip from my water bottle before coming over to the other side.<\/p>\n<p>I have worn a plain black fanny pack for many years<br \/>\non the job and off. It&#8217;s a handy place for my wallet, my cell phone,<br \/>\npens, tools, chewing gum and the various talismans I insist on having<br \/>\nwith me at all times. Being able to reach into my pouch and handle the<br \/>\npolished piece of hematite worry stone, the silver dollar, the various<br \/>\nmedallions or the small replica of Stonehenge brings me a grounding I<br \/>\nneed from time to time. For many years carrying things in my pants<br \/>\npockets was not an option, unless I wanted them melted down to basic<br \/>\nelemental form by the end of the day from the heat and sweat.<\/p>\n<p>Another talisman I carry is the keychain that my<br \/>\nhouse keys, car keys and scan tags all hang off of. It was given to me<br \/>\nby my mother after a trip to my childhood summer home of Great<br \/>\nCranberry Isle, Maine. From when I was five or six, the jewelry art of<br \/>\nthe boats men has always been to my liking. The natural progression of<br \/>\nwatching my Turks Head Knot bracelet change from bright white when it<br \/>\nwas bought to the darker, funkier gray was a good way to gauge the<br \/>\nsummer&#8217;s remaining days. I would wear mine as long as I could, even<br \/>\nprying it&#8217;s shrunken grip from my wrist for a stern washing and<br \/>\nbleaching.<\/p>\n<p>My mother knowing my love for these simple things<br \/>\ngot me this keychain, which is a simple small knot, called a Monkey&#8217;s<br \/>\nPaw. It is a round ball about an inch in diameter. Made of thin white<br \/>\nstring, it is a reminder of a simpler time up there, on the water and<br \/>\nin the sun. I&#8217;ve had it for nearly twelve years.<\/p>\n<p>As I passed through the security checkpoint, the<br \/>\nwoman on the x-ray machine asked if she could search my fanny pack. I<br \/>\nsaid yeas and she proceeded to pull my keys out and inform me that I<br \/>\ncould not go any further unless I removed my keychain.<\/p>\n<p>I was instantly confused. I asked her why the<br \/>\nkeychain was now considered unacceptable after nearly twelve years of<br \/>\nflying with it and nearly five months after 9\/11. She informed me that<br \/>\nmy keychain was classified as a weapon, was known as a &#8220;Billy Ball&#8221; and<br \/>\nhad been considered such for quite some time. She gave me the choice of<br \/>\nsurrendering it to her trash can, checking my carry on bag under the<br \/>\nplane with it inside or returning to the main terminal gift shop to<br \/>\npurchase an envelope and stamps to mail it to myself.<\/p>\n<p>I didn&#8217;t want to throw it away; I sure didn&#8217;t want<br \/>\nto check my carry on bag (that&#8217;s why it&#8217;s a carry on), so I tried to be<br \/>\nunderstanding and returned to the gift shop where they were charging<br \/>\nthree dollars for a simple white letter size envelope and $7.80 for<br \/>\n$3.40 worth of stamps. This triggered my righteous indignation circuit.<br \/>\nThis usually is a problem.<\/p>\n<p>I returned to the security checkpoint. I began to<br \/>\ntry to reason with the young lady (who was the supervisor of a number<br \/>\nof older employees). I explained that it was a keepsake from my mother.<br \/>\nI explained that I had flown with it for twelve years and at least six<br \/>\ntimes since 9\/11 including two international flights. I don&#8217;t think I<br \/>\neven got a blink out of her. Some other, deeper, more primal circuit<br \/>\nflipped inside my head.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Ma&#8217;am, it&#8217;s a piece of string. If<br \/>\nI was to unwrap it and put it in my pocket, it would be a piece of<br \/>\nstring,&#8221; I said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Sir, it&#8217;s considered a weapon,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>I considered using it as one but realized it would<br \/>\nbe totally inefficient and never do enough damage or cause enough fear.<br \/>\nIt would be like trying to bludgeon someone with a stale mini muffin or<br \/>\ndoughnut hole. I decided not to share this with her.<\/p>\n<p>Even in this heightened state of security, I tried<br \/>\nto imagine a cold, calculating terrorist holding a full plane at bay<br \/>\nwith a one-inch key fob made of string. Perhaps using the attached<br \/>\njagged house key with my other hand&#8230; it seemed like a reach.<\/p>\n<p>Reason was not going to work. Subterfuge was an<br \/>\noption as I could have carried it through the metal detector without a<br \/>\npeep but that didn&#8217;t come to mind. With all the communication skills I<br \/>\ngained through my upbringing, college and traveling the world, I went<br \/>\nwith the next obvious choice: passive\/ aggressive shame.<\/p>\n<p>She could not see the warm summer days on the<br \/>\nseashore. She couldn&#8217;t see the love in my mother&#8217;s eyes. She couldn&#8217;t<br \/>\nsee past the guidelines her boss had given her.<\/p>\n<p>I suppose I could have checked my carry on bag and<br \/>\nrisked breaking the delicate things it carried, limiting myself to one<br \/>\nbook instead of six and eight CD&#8217;s instead of a hundred and forty. I<br \/>\nalso could have spent the $10.80 to attempt to send it to myself at<br \/>\nhome. In the end I surrendered it to her trashcan, hoping to make her<br \/>\nfeel stupid (she didn&#8217;t) and trying to act grown up (I wasn&#8217;t).<\/p>\n<p>As I usually do when these things put me into a<br \/>\ntizzy, I called my wife and she had a few logical common sense<br \/>\nsuggestions. It was too late, I was down the concourse, my flight was<br \/>\nbeing called and the string key chain sat in a gray trash can with a<br \/>\nclear plastic liner with the other weapons, nail clippers, stale<br \/>\nJujubes, and other bits of string.<\/p>\n<p>The next day I heard on the news that the security<br \/>\ncompany she worked for was losing all of their airport contracts and<br \/>\nall the screeners were being fired. I felt vindicated for a few seconds<br \/>\nbut in the end, I&#8217;m still sad that we now have to search our own bags<br \/>\nbefore we leave for the airport and that now we&#8217;ll never know what<br \/>\nthey[base &#8216;]ll look for next.<\/p>\n<p>A few years back I was traveling to Israel on<br \/>\nbusiness and saw that our departure to the airport was nearly four<br \/>\nhours before the flight was to leave. Our bags were screened by a team<br \/>\nat our hotel early that morning and secured. We spent a half hour at a<br \/>\nsecurity checkpoint a mile outside the terminal, individually we were<br \/>\ninterviewed as we checked in, again at the x-ray machine, once at a<br \/>\nrandom check in the shopping area and a last time as we boarded the<br \/>\nplane.  With all the problems they have had, they took very few<br \/>\nchances. Most American travelers and probably all of the American<br \/>\ncompanies would never stand for this, the inconvenience and the time<br \/>\nconsumption. What we experience now is still so casual compared to<br \/>\nplaces that have experienced terror for the lifetime of their airport.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s too bad that we have to have security at the<br \/>\nairport. I&#8217;m glad we do though because humanity seems pretty<br \/>\npredictable. Perhaps we&#8217;ll all be restricted to not carrying any<br \/>\npersonal belongings in the cabin or having Nerf or plush version of<br \/>\noffice supplies. No hardback books. Only felt tip pens or crayons. Kind<br \/>\nof like county jail on suicide watch. Then in first class they&#8217;ll serve<br \/>\na meal on china plates with real flatware including a knife. You can&#8217;t<br \/>\nask certain people to be punished for being successful.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m going to carry a few things if I can back in<br \/>\ncoach. Something to write with and write on for starters, as I seem to<br \/>\nwrite mostly in the air nowadays. A good paperback and the beautiful<br \/>\nbookmark my wife made for me; a bottle of water and a self addressed<br \/>\nstamped envelope in case the rules change. Some things are not worth<br \/>\ngiving up and cannot be taken by security: your memories; your<br \/>\nconnections to the ones you love; the experiences that make you who you<br \/>\nare. Material things by nature are transient. The ones that hold value<br \/>\nto you  should be protected.<\/p>\n<p>I felt bad about losing that key chain. I liked its<br \/>\nsize and its style. I liked that it reminded me of Maine and my<br \/>\nMom.  But in the end, it&#8217;s just a thing. And like I told the woman<br \/>\nat the airport &#8220;It&#8217;s just a piece of string&#8221;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>10\/11\/02 The transition of travel since 9\/11 is a story of extremes. Those who fly on a regular basis have learned what to check and what you can carry on. In the first year there have been some inconsistencies in the criteria. The obvious items are not in question. Following the Richard Reid incident, shoes [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peNcU-1I","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bittermancircle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bittermancircle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bittermancircle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bittermancircle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bittermancircle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bittermancircle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bittermancircle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bittermancircle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bittermancircle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}