It’s the holiday season. You might be on the move, either to a caravan in Wales, or somewhere with palm trees.
If it’s the latter, airport security can be a little undignified. You’re often required to step into a glass chamber, legs splayed, arms aloft, as they take some sort of naked picture of you. We don’t question it. We do as they ask, hanging onto the hope that there’s no rubber glove treatment to follow.
This heightened security has spread to concerts and public gatherings. There’s a wonderful story about Kai, a 4-year-old boy who was new to all this. A keen WWF wrestling fan, his dad took him to a big venue where fans were routinely frisked on entry. All of them, even the 4 year-olds! The boy wandered through the metal detector, the red light picking out the £2 spending money buried in his pocket. The security guard knelt down to the boy’s level and opened his arms, showing the 4-year-old what was required. The lad, assuming the best, opened his arms and went in for the full hug.
And that was where the internet story ended. Whether security went on to discover a flick knife tucked into the lad’s belt, or a kilo of hash in his socks, who knows?
I’d say it’s unlikely because Kai is how we all start out, primed for LOVE, not hate.