Fear in the 21st Century

MacTroll and I lived in Northern Virginia on September 11, 2001. The plane that hit the Pentagon was less than a mile from my office. I saw the smoke from the impact when it happened. 

I drove by the hole in the building for months afterwards with large guns pointed at the commuters (like me) passing by as the military worried about terrorists driving trucks with bombs up to the Pentagon.

I watched 3,000 people burst into tears on 9/11/02, when the unexpected military flyby made everyone panic that something was happening again. 

The Washington Post is always full of stories and scary graphics of what would happen to the city if a terrorist released a dirty bomb on the city.

There were Anthrax scares, unfounded bomb threats called into office buildings and that poor farmer on his tractor in the middle of the National Mall making his protest. 

A year after 9/11, I worked with the firefighters who ran the first 10 days of the rescue and recovery efforts on the ground at the Pentagon. These are the people who had to pull out and tag the dead bodies. These are the men and women who had to evacuate the building while trying to put out the Pentagon fire -- TWICE, because folks like John Ashcroft wouldn't identify their planes and the fire fighters had way of knowing if it was a friendly plane or another one sent to crash into the building.

Huge military officers stood at the security checkpoint lines at Washington National Airport with giant guns to, I guess, instill a security "presence."

No one was allowed to stand up or go pee in the first 30 minutes of any flight from Washington National or the last 30 minutes of any flight going into Washington National.

On my first flight post 9-11, MacTroll and I went to Sanibel Island. They were still doing "random spot checks" at the gate. MacTroll and I both got pulled aside. The crack security team at the Fort Meyers, Florida, airport were made up of two senior citizens. And when I say senior I mean ages 70-plus. The gentleman who scanned MacTroll kept having his wand go off at MacTroll's hip, he had MacTroll's lift his shorts, but all that was there was skin. What a nice day to go commando, MacTroll! 

The woman who wanded me, kept having her tool beep at the center of my back. 

"What is this hard piece, dear?" 

"Um, that would be the three latches on my bra."

"Oooooh, of course!"

And every local and national news report about potential terrorist activity in D.C. had everyone living in the beltway cleaning Home Depot out of plastic wrap, duct tape and bottled water. The media also had you believe we were grabbing up gas masks for family, neighbors and pets. 

The whole place was riddled in fear... And 7 years later, I still sense that fear is spreading across the country like a wildfire consuming dry prairie. 

Do I find terrorism entertaining? Hell, no. Do I believe that we're safer now than we were 7 years ago from "imminent attacks" because we went to war, started a Homeland Security department and created a bunch of color-coated safety protocols. No. 

Do I want the world to be safe and at peace? Yes. Do I think that's possible? Not really. But I also think I'm much more likely to get robbed or shot at by "normal" people than I am to be a victim of global terrorism.

So, when I read that the Chicago Tribune released a story today that O'Hare is going to start using virtual strip search cameras as a security measure to prevent terrorism -- my blood pressure shot through the fucking roof.

The cameras can see everything, every flap of fat, breast tissue, where you've had surgeries, muscle definition... Here's the example photo they give at the Chicago Tribune. (I like that they picked someone with stomach muscle definition AND perky breasts.)

Now imagine your mother's body, your children's bodies, your body... 

Do I want the world to be a safe place to live. Yes. Do I think security measures like this are the way to go. No. 

I want to live in a free society. And part of that means, I'm willing to take some risks that there will always be cruel humans that insert pain and agony and terror into others. I think, however, that there really are more humans that are full of brilliant hope and thoughtfulness. 

But I really wonder sometimes that if we had kept living the way we were living before 9/11 without all the fear-induced reaction, if we wouldn't have ended up doing more to fight the idea of terrorism by refusing to change how we live out of fear of people who disagree with our free and democratic society. 

I guess the way I see it today is that the more we let the fear eat away at us, the more impact those that hate us will make on our country, on our way of life and on our children's lives. 

Can't there be more of a balance between learning how to be cautious and look out for one another during emergencies rather than just signing over our freedoms in fear that we'll lose our lives?

I mean, isn't that what all the military folks now and throughout history have put their lives on the line for? For us to have the freedoms guaranteed to us by the U.S. Constitution? And wouldn't they be horrified to know we just handed them back to our government blindly hoping that President Bush and Congress will save our skins?

I'm usually not very political on my blog. So, I apologize. And everyone with different views will have their comments, I know. But really, between this and the current state of affairs concerning air travel, why would anyone fly unless they had to?

I guess, I'm relieved that I only leave out of Willard or Bloomington these days. And it'll probably be a while before I have to go through major airport security that might have security precautions like O'hare. But we'll see... if Canadian airports start doing the same thing -- someone's gonna have to grit their teeth and get through seeing my naked body on the scanner. Cause trust me, after going through my pregnancy, my body looks and feels like it was a war zone.