Bystander

                I had an interesting experience the other day going through my fourth airport screening for the week. Interesting in the sense that it made me question my own courage and devotion to fair play.

                I should explain that if I can’t fly, I can’t do my job. And if I can’t do my job, I can’t pay for little things like the house and dog food and college fees. So I really can’t afford to get into a dustup with the good folks who screen us for air travel.

                The trouble is, they’re not all good people, are they? I mean, I put up with the indignity of a screening that involves standing in an imaging machine while some unseen stranger looks my body over. And I put up with the rudeness of the majority of the denizens of airport security. Oh, I’ve called supervisors a couple times when things got out of hand. But for the most part, I’m as cowed as the next guy at the thought of being put on a no-fly list.

                The trouble is that this is how totalitarianism begins. It’s no exaggeration that every despot in history could have been stopped cold if at the first signs of their bullying nature, people of good will had simply stood together and said, “No, this will not stand!”

                I know this. I’ve long understood where my duty lay regarding standing up to bullies. Elie Wiesel was right when he assigned guilt to bystanders. So I really have no excuse for my lack of reaction at the airport the other day.

                I guess the security guy figured I’d go along with his inappropriate joke.  And it turns out he was right. I should have called his supervisor and written the jerk up. I should have said it’s not all right for a person in a position of relative authority to use it to act hatefully without fear of retribution.

                I should have done something, anything. But I’d already had a run in with airport security earlier this trip and I was feeling a bit gun shy.  This brain-dead bully figured I’d just dummy up and let it pass. And it turns out he was right. I just didn’t need the hassle that day.

                I don’t much care for being a bystander. I’ll do better next time, or so I hope. Letting this guy get away with it is a nail in the coffin of the Bill of Rights. I should have done better.