News that bothers me

I often see news that bothers me. Its like a prickle in my side that just keeps poking at me. Most often its when someone misrepresents my faith or the faith of a friend. Today I saw an article about a Muslim woman who was denied a full unopened can of soda because it could be used as a weapon.

First I think we should have a clear idea of what constitutes a weapon. The rifle my husband trains with in the Army now that's a weapon. A soda can or a nerf dart are not  weapons. Maybe if someone was trying to club someone with the soda can it could be considered a weapon until then let's apply some common sense. I could do far more damage swinging my medicine bag at you than a soda can but my bag isn't a weapon. It's a bag and for heaven's sake it's a soda can.

Second the airline hid behind the well touted line of its policy. I'm calling bull on that one. I'm not even a frequent flyer any more and I've had plenty of full unopened soda cans on a flight. So that leads me to the real question: why this woman? The answer is a sad one. The answer is that she didn't get the soda can because she's Muslim and looks it by all accounts. The flight attendant engaged in racial profiling with a policy that lets her get away with it and that is just wrong.

If we hate or discriminate against every Muslim then we become the very extremists our military has to fight. We have to reach out with love and find common ground. I have good friends who are Muslim. Maybe we don't agree on everything but we can always find the common ground that links us. I don't want to see us using racial profiling or profiling in the airports in general.

I confess I used to think profiling was a great idea. Then it happened to me. I got pulled aside for an additional screening. You want to know why? I have a service dog. No one else was pulled out of line so it certainly wasn't at random. The airport individual even went so far as to give my dog a pat down. Seriously they went through his backpack and jammed his ribs to search him. It was humiliating to be singled out. No one should have to be humiliated like that for any reason. Not to mention there's an abundance of evidence that the current TSA screening processes don't even work well.

So I understand how this woman felt when she was singled out over something silly. My point is that what the flight attendant was wrong and it just bothers me. We have to reach out and teach people or we risk becoming the very people we're fighting. We have to use common sense. Without these things we're lost.