I flew home from London yesterday. The entire process from leaving the hotel to arriving at home took more than 22 hours, including a short nap on the floor of the Pittsburgh airport, but I finally am home. The trip has given me ample opportunity to muse on the craving for security. It�s far harder to satisfy than a craving for pickles and ice cream�and could be far pricier.

The current results of attempts to satisfy this craving make little sense to me. London allowed no carry-on luggage except purses and baby bags, searched purses and baby bags, and patted down passengers. Pittsburgh allowed the normal (and ridiculous) two carry-ons and looked in virtually nothing. Yet planes could not fly out of London for days because the US was worried about security.

Apparently, Kat�s school also succumbed to the �let�s do something�anything�to show we care about safety mentality� also. According to Kat, last Wednesday they required the kids to walk through metal detectors to get into school. I�m sure she�s reporting accurately because I received an e-mail (which I actually got today) informing me about this important and supposedly reassuring security measure. The part that did not make sense was the part where they did not check a single backpack of a single child. Kat is bright enough to tell me that they had engaged in pretend security.

The silly attempts at security are just annoying except that they point to a real problem. We seem willing to do just about anything as long as someone intones the word �security.� This willingness concerns me. What exactly are we willing to give up for the promise of the Fountain of Security. The attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon took lives and our belief in our bubble of invulnerability. That�s what it took. What we are willing to sacrifice ourselves in the quest for perfect safety is what we give. I fear we could end up giving most of what makes us us.

The world is a dangerous place. I don�t deny that but I also don�t pretend that its dangers are particularly new. More important, I don�t believe the analogy of a war is the right one when dealing with terrorism any more than it is the right one for dealing with drugs. When we declare war on an enemy that there is no real hope we can defeat militarily, we ultimately declare war on ourselves.

I am ready for some prudent and carefully thought out improvements in security. I am not ready to just render up all of the freedom of this society chasing the will o� the wisp of total safety. Freedom is not and cannot be totally safe. I do not plan to give us up to the craving for security.

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