When I read this today, it made sense.  We - the US and the rest of the world - are reactive, again.  In another forum, there was discussion about how travel is handled in places like Israel where terrorism is a daily part of life and how smart it seems they are. 

 One of the comments was about the extensive security in many countries for many years and in particular in Israel where terrorism is a fact of life.  One of the comments in this discussion was about someone's mother who had never felt "violated" when traveling in and out of Israel. Her mother, Caucasian and Jewish, probably didn't have any problem tho' I would contend that anyone is a potential terrorist. (Remember Timothy McVeigh?)

Then I thought about a note I received from a friend about her travel in Israel.  Her experience was quite different from my colleague's mother.  My friend, a US citizen, and her mother (a US citizen originally from Palestine) have been profiled and searched while on travel in or through Israel.  Is it the mother's country of birth? that they wear headscarves? their names? skin color?

I know we need security - I know it's a dangerous world. I travel extensively and want to be safe as I want everyone to be.  And yet, the countries from which people travel or through which they travel and will now receive more screening before coming into or through the US are interesting. 

Cuba? Really? 

And then there are those who want to stop from traveling or put in very separate lines anyone whose name is Mohammed or Abdul or other "Arabic-sounding" names! How short our memories - remember Timothy McVeigh and Richard Reid, the former a US citizen, the latter, a citizen of Britain.

 While I understand our world's need for coming up with better methods of keeping the world safe, I am angry at the profiling and the hate being spewed. Not all those from Yemen or Nigeria or Palestine or elsewhere are terrorists.

What should we do?

[And a note of apology for now posting for so very long. Sometimes life gets in the way of doing important work.]