Wow.

Really, all I can say is wow. I don’t even know what else say about yesterdays news that several suspected terrorists were arrested in England and that there was even someone arrested in Pakistan.

Now we have increased security at airports. Water, cologne, makeup, and toothpaste have all become suspect. Some airlines have even begun to ban cell phones, iPods, laptop computers, and portable game systems.

It makes me wonder how much freedom and liberty we will give up for the appearance of safety. I’ve already had a friend, who just happens to have a skin color other than white, be subjected to a secondary screening on his way back from a business trip. It is unfortunate that we have a group to victimize, a group that can become isolated and treated like pariahs, a group that we can readily profile.

While we should be focusing on “subjects of interest” not the everyday business traveller, the unfortunate fact is that in the current situation profiling is a valid tool. Is it realistic to think an 80 year old white woman with a bottle of water is going to blow up an airplane? It would be much more realistic to think (unfortunately so) that a 20 – 35 year old man with a beard and darker skin is a terrorist. Unless you include one little fact that I heard briefly on the radio today – 2 women and a few white guys were among the 24 people arrested in the England.

So, what’s the answer? I think we go about things normally. We let the terrorists know that we can continue to go about our lives in a normal manner without fear. They are attempting strike fear into our hearts. We need to reject their fear mongering and continue as normal. Governments can increase their intelligence gathering, but the citizenry needs to continue as normal.

We also need to avoid causing division within our communities by treating the other people around us like untouchable criminals just because their religion, country of origin or skin color is different than our own.