“Sick At Heart”

By Carol Lauhon

Before boarding a flight at the Portland, Ore., airport on Sunday, I was among numerous passengers being shunted rapidly through “security,” being divided into lines in the same visual way as in those images from documentary films about the death camps. We shuffled through, carrying our belongings, and docilely went exactly where directed.

Right in the middle of the space where lines were being “processed,” a man and woman stood alone, shoeless and without any belongings at all. They were inside a box with very high transparent plastic (bomb-proof?) walls. No official was attending them, and they were wide-eyed and trapped. This. In America.

Not one other passenger acknowledged their situation in any way. We were all on our own individual missions to get to the gate on time.

My bag was selected for inspection, and the agent held up a one-ounce tube of hand cream to see if it was dangerous. She ended by setting aside my toothpaste and two jars of jam I had just bought (marionberry jam, named for berries found in Marion County, Ore.). Her supervisor came over and told me I could go all the way back to the ticket counter, if I wanted, and send those items through in checked luggage. I thought of telling him where to go, but instead I said something equivalent to, but not as polite as, “Forget about it.” He said, “Does that mean you are surrendering these items to the U.S. government?”

I said, “Yes, not only am I surrendering these items to the U.S. government, but I’m voting Democratic in November.” He didn’t even know what I meant.

Once through the gate, capitalism be praised, I had the opportunity to buy exactly the same jam I had tried to bring through security. I told this to the woman at check-out, and she said that until two weeks ago, they couldn’t sell it. They objected, and were granted the right to sell jam after it had been “inspected.” I told her that I resented this deeply. She said, “Well, it’s a tough call.”

I replied, “It’s not a tough call. I refuse to be militarized and terrorized, and I am voting out the Republicans in November.” She and probably the half- dozen people in the shop heard what I said and may have understood. My voice projects. I have had stage training. In fact, I played the role of Anne Frank as a senior in high school.

Anne Frank allegedly wrote, “In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.”

As for me, in view of everything, I am sick at heart.

Carol Lauhon, a resident of Chicago, Ill., recently earned her Ph.D. in English from the University of Iowa. She gives permission for this article to be circulated

http://www.harrytcook.com.

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Shalom! Rowland Croucher

‘It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so’ (Mark Twain)

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