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https://medium.com/mystic-minds/for-four-years-i-was-randomly-selected-for-special-security-checks-at-airports-throughout-the-u-s-af180865ecaa>
"My son and I were traveling from Texas to Philadelphia to take him to see his
father. I’d printed out tickets, and headed to check our bags and get our
boarding passes at the ticket counter. All went well until we reached the
security check.
As I showed my I.D. and boarding pass to the TSA agent, I was told, “Ms.
Lennox, you’ve been randomly selected for a special security check.”
This happened not long after 9/11 and was the first time my son, who was seven
years old, and I had flown since then. He was already nervous.
I wasn’t nervous until then. TSA had been ramped up after 9/11 to protect us.
We’re all used to TSA and security checks now, but they were new in 2001, and
neither of us had experienced what then felt like a scary, intrusive procedure.
As they sent him through, he looked back at me with frightened eyes and yelled,
“Mom!”
I told him everything was okay, and to wait for me just past the security
check. He stood against a wall, with tears in his eyes, looking terrified.
The female TSA agent asked if I wanted to patted down in a private room. I told
her that I wasn’t leaving my son, told her to look at how scared he was, and so
absolutely not.
As the TSA person wanded me, then patted me down, I kept eye contact with my
son, and loudly assured him it was going to be okay, and that I was fine. When
they finally released me, I explained to him that this was something they were
doing to keep us all safe and that I was a random choice."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
