America: What a Bunch of Wusses

I'm supposed to be working on my syllabus for class Wednesday night, but like all times when I'm anxious, I put off the work until the last minute. So, I thought I'd post my musings on the recent terror plot that was thwarted (don't you just love that word) by British Intelligence (or MI5, another cool name) yesterday. I've been watching the proceedings on CNN-- the long lines, how people have had to discard certain toiletries, how passengers in London weren't allowed carry-on bags, etc. I do realize how frustrating this has all been, and from most of the reports I've seen, people have been good sports about it all, most of them grateful that the terror plot was stopped before anything happened.

But something caught my attention that related the bigger problem in all this. Sure, terrorism is a problem and the means to detect it are becoming increasingly daunting, but it's certain people's attitudes that are most frustrating. Take this one family for example. If you watch CNN, you might have seen her and her two boys. They're flying home to America from London and were dismayed that they could not take any carry-on luggage with them, only their wallet and passport. These are reasonable frustrations and most people just deal with them and move on. But this lady felt compelled to rail against the injustice of not being able to take video equipment or i-Pods onto the plane. "What will my boys do for five hours in the air?" she asked the reporter. Oh, I don't know . . . perhaps talk to one another? Read a book? I mean, here is a major terror plot uncovered-- one, so I hear, that would rival 9/11 in its severity and loss of lives-- wouldn't it be a good time to talk with your kids about the situation in the world? Or use the time to bond with them? I love electronics, games, and music, but there are too many kids for whom these activities serve as a substitute for social interaction. They don't know how to talk like a human being because they're never forced to interact with other human beings.

No wonder these terrorists hate us. I probably would too if I saw a bunch of overfed, spoiled people who think that standing in line a while longer is a major inconvenience worthy of investigation by Amnesty International. What about all the unfortunate people in the world who have to deal with bombs going off in the night, or massive floods, or tsunamis, or lack of water and food? Those people truly have it bad. I don't think we, as Americans, have any right to bemoan the slight inconvenience of extra waiting time in an airport or the inability to take a video game on board a flight. But that's just my opinion . . .