After the Attacks: What to Expect at Airports
Bryan McBournie | Staff Writer

I was flying on the one-week anniversary of the terrorist attacks that changed our country so quickly. For personal reasons, I had to fly to Boston. From first getting to the Roanoke airport, I noticed differences. There were State Troopers outside, watching my every move. After getting my ticket, I headed upstairs to the gates. Since the airport's new policy is to be there 2 hours before your flight, I had plenty of time on my hands. I sat in the area between the shops and watched TV. Of course, the TV was on CNN, there were interviews going on about updates regarding the rescue efforts in New York and Washington. Also, France was pledging support for the US. "Big deal," I thought, "are the French going to declare war on Afghanistan making them immediately surrender?"

Again and again, I watched the images I had seen so many times earlier that week: about 10 different angles of the second hijacked plane crashing into the South Tower of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon burning, and a crater surrounded by people in Pennsylvania. By now, I was getting used to these images, but somehow today, it was different. I was viewing them from an airport, watching planes take off and land in the background. When I went through the security checkpoint, I was met by the customary airline employees, accompanied by the new faces of a US Marshal and a State Trooper. My bag went through the x-ray scanner, and whispers were made. "This can't be good," I thought.

They made me open up my bag and take everything out. All of my clothes that I had once been packed were now on the floor of the checkpoint. Then, the State Trooper reached into my bag and pulled out my electric shaver. He radioed someone to make sure it was ok to carry that with me. I was trying to think of why it was a problem, and how I might be able to take over a plane with it. All I could think of that could be threatening about it was that I could shave people's heads if they didn't cooperate. Soon, I was given the ok to re-pack my bag, in front of much of the airport, and soon I was on my way.

My transfer flight was in Cincinnati. All over the airport I saw the American Flag. It was wrapped around people's heads as a bandana, on hats, embroidered on shirts, and pins. There was even a giant flag hanging from the watchtower. Magazines like "Time" showed riveting pictures of the attack, and inspired hope in the American public. My plane from Cincy to Boston was a Boeing 757, the same model as the one that crashed into the Pentagon.

Landing at Logan Airport in Boston, the same place from which the two planes that crashed into the Twin Towers took off, was eerie. Having flown to and from Logan in the past, I had come to know the crowded airport a bit. It, like the planes I had been flying on that day, were sparsely filled.

As I walked outside, I saw a long line for people trying to get through the security checkpoint and move on to their gates. At the front of the line was a US Marshal, armed with an automatic rifle, and a bomb-sniffing dog at his side. There were Massachusetts State Troopers inside Logan and patrolling the outside in their cruisers. Freshly painted signs outside proclaimed that the FAA had ended the convenient "curbside check-in". I saw far more flags waving in and around Logan than I had seen earlier in the day.

Though I never came directly in contact with the attacks, the wake was felt. People asked me if I was scared flying so soon after the attacks. My answer was a simple "no." American skies have never been safer than they are right now for two big reasons. First, security has been stepped up and is at its best in 20 years. Second, the terrorists knew they only had one shot at America, so they made sure it was a big one. Chances are they won't attack again for quite some time, and even if they did, they wouldn't try the same thing again.

The goal of the attacks was to make America afraid. I am certain people who had tickets for the flights I took cancelled out because they were afraid of another attack. I refuse to be afraid. I refuse to change my lifestyle in any way after those terrible attacks. Once you start living in fear, or even hesitating when going about your daily business, the terrorists have beaten you. So join me in the biggest defense America has against terrorism- stubbornness!