Virginia Kail's Cookeville TN Real Estate Blog

It's 2011 and This Roaming Gnome is STILL not Flying.

Traveling is one of my great loves in life. It always has been, and it always will be.  I used to love surfing the Internet for those last minute flight bargains to exotic locations. That doesn't happen anymore. 

Last year when I heard about the latest TSA policy of a scan or pat down, I knew immediately that I'd flown for the last time.  I'm not willing to trade basic human dignity for a vacation.  I simply cannot find it within myself to endure such a thing. I'm certainly not paying for such degradation.

I'm thankful every day that I don't have to fly to do my job. I really feel for the people who endure such things for a paycheck. I find it heartbreaking that any American has to make that choice.

Now, I know that there are those who will find my decision silly. After all, a this is for our own good and a little groping is no big deal, right? I wholeheartedly disagree.

One of our most brilliant founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin, addressed this very thing in 1754 when he said,

"Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."

Yet today, I sit here watching news footage of a small child screaming during a TSA "pat down". I watch the story of a 95 year old woman with leukemia having to remove her adult diaper and endure a pat down.

It makes me sick that this is happening in my own country.

This is supposed to be the land of the free and the home of the brave. This is the country I wore a uniform for and defended for 6 years of my life. We are reduced to this.

I am only one person. If the masses wish to trade their freedom for safety, I cannot change it. All I can do is vote with my wallet. I'll give up something which I adore: traveling, in exchange for something I can't live without: Freedom and basic human dignity.