Our Voice: Stop complaining about airport scans
Ten years ago, when people decided to go on a trip somewhere, often times they would travel to an airport and take a plane to their destination. When they got to the line at airport security, there was no demand for the travelers to take their shoes off of their feet. Travelers did not have to limit the size of their liquid containers, and the only security scanning that was done on the travelers was a simple walk through a metal detector.
If a traveler beeped when walking through the metal detector, they would maybe get another chance to walk through it again. Most of the times in this circumstance, the passenger simply forgot to take off their belt or had some loose change in their pockets and when they walked through the detector a second time, they were probably cleared to go. If a passenger beeped a second time in the metal detector, generally security personal would scan them with the metal wand and locate all the metal on their bodies. Once this happened, the passenger would be cleared and would be on their way to their terminal and go to their destination.
Now, when people decide to go on a trip somewhere and travel by way of airplane, security is a whole other issue. When the passengers get into the security line, they have to be sure that all liquids they are traveling with are in containers that are less than three ounces. All liquid containers must be placed in a clear bag and put in the plastic bin for close examination. Passengers now have to take off their shoes before crossing the detectors and place them in plastic bins as well. Now, in addition to the metal detector and magic wands randomly selected, a traveler may have to walk into an X-ray scanning machine, which will detect anything that is on the person’s body. If the person does not want to be X-rayed by the machine, they can choose to decline it and have the alternative pat-down from a security personnel of the same gender. With all of the extra security it is not a bad idea to arrive at the airport several hours before your flight.
There’s no question about it, airport security has definitely advanced and in terms of how much each person and their luggage is looked over and scanned. This in turn can cause a lot of people to complain excessively. It is not uncommon to hear phrases like “airport security is ridiculous, the lines are way to long” or “airport security is absurd with the X-ray scanner and the intense pat-downs, they are invading my right to privacy.”
This year marks as the 10-year anniversary to the Sept. 11 attacks, and with all things considered, isn’t a little more time spent at the airport security lines worth the safety of traveler’s lives? Isn’t having to carry liquid containers under three ounces and taking off your shoes and being X-ray scanned worth the price of not dying in a terrorist-related plane crash? We at The Colonnade feel that people need to be more appreciative and grateful that airport security goes to all this extra effort to make sure that we are at a lower risk of having a plane we might be traveling on hijacked.
People need to stop complaining and realize that the extra measures taken are to make sure they don’t die in a plane accident. If you asked the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks if they would rather take a few extra minutes out of their schedule of preparation for security in exchange for having a safe flight to their destinations, they probably would have been more than willing to take their shoes off a the metal detector and be examined by an X-ray scanner.
Posted by 
