Anyone following my Tweets on twitter as of late will know I had a little bit of an attitude problem with the ridiculous new carry-on restrictions for anyone flying into the United States. Being a frequent traveler, these things affect me on an ongoing basis. With that being said, I understand the necessity of taking some measure of caution to protect normal people from whackos, and I know the border security officials are just doing their job.
That's my disclaimer.
Now here's the story.
It seems that the latest approach to stopping people who claim their religion justifies the random killing of civilian non-combatants has finally gone into the loony zone. Carry-on bags with wheels are no longer allowed to be carried on (which means they can no longer be called "carry-on" bags, I presume!). The only thing allowed is a "lap top bag," small enough to contain a lap-top and its wires. A woman's purse is also allowed, and I'm currently shopping for mine. A small backpack? Nope. A child's backpack with some toys? Nope. A briefcase? Even one without wheels? Nope. And here begins our story.
Uninitiated in these wonderful new rules (implemented just last week), I unknowingly attempted to board an international flight into the US carrying a very offensive, extremely dangerous, favorite-tool-of-terrorists everywhere: namely, a regular sized briefcase with wheels. Forced to check it, without adequate time to prepare for such a step, meant placing into the care of two governments, an airline, and workers at three separate airports, my briefcase and its contents. This included my lap-top (not really meant to be jostled that hard, or stored in sub-freezing temperatures for long amounts of time), my video camera, many private and very important papers, my calendar, etc., etc. Only later would I remember that it also included a couple other valuable items I certainly wouldn't have checked had I known about them!
So, of course, as you can probably guess, the airlines lost this bag. The other two came through just fine, of course, my underwear and socks safely back in my possession. And here is where I must confess that even those of us who write about leadership principles and teach about having a good attitude (I believe "Attitude of Gratitude" is how I termed it in an extremely, embarrassingly recent post) can lose it once in a while.
Now, I didn't blow my stack or start shouting at anyone, but my thoughts were not very pure. For instance, I was not exactly praying for the salvation of that terrorist of Christmas day that brought all this upon us. Instead, I was thinking some very hate-filled things about his beliefs and him in particular. I was angry at how the world works and how jerks can affect people they don't even know, and (luckily for them) will never even meet. I may have contained my angst on the outside, but on the inside I was G.I. Joe, Rambo, John Wayne, Sergeant Fury, and whoever George W. Bush thought he was in his moments of most militant imaginations.
To further my sin, I was quite sure the valuables in my briefcase, in whole or in part, would never make their way back to me. My luggage had been mis-tagged, and the slip filled out to retrieve it left absolutely no connection between me and my bag. I only realized this several miles away from the airport as I steamed my way home. A U-turn and drive back brought me a bit more resolution and hope for seeing my bag again, but did nothing to fix my sunken attitude.
There. I have confessed. I feel so much cleaner now.
And wouldn't you know it? I was not even given a chance to exonerate myself for a bad attitude, because everything worked out just fine. The surely large amount of people who must have had to handle my bag and deliver it safely into my keeping all managed to abstain from giving me any "I-told-you-so's." Not a thing inside had been touched. No one stole a single valuable or violated my belongings in any way at all, that I could see. And the bag arrived at my door at exactly the time they had told me it would.
There are some people of honor, character and excellence out there. I thank each one of you who played a part in this story.
As for the terrorists, though, and these ridiculous new rules, well, my attitude is still going to require some work. I'm quite certain it is the objective of the terrorists to make us fly naked.
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