A pensive thought on Aviation

A couple of days ago, an American Airlines B-767 went past my window in a glorious blue sky. It got me pensive a bit. I edited a well-known passage from a Spielberg movie to reflect a story I hope I never have to tell my young son Javier.

Probably never a really good moment to share it, but nevertheless, here it is.



Javier: You used to fly on airplanes? What happened?

TriSec: Islamic Terrorists slammed two planes into the World Trade Center, Javi.

It was on a beautiful fall morning. Just an ordinary day. A Tuesday. Three thousand people went to meet their maker. Both buildings collapsed in an hour.

Didn't see the first changes to the law for about three weeks. The Patriot Act. Well, what we didn't know was that the destruction of the Constitution had been so secret: No media coverage was written. Huh-huh. They didn't even realize the constitution was gone for a couple of years. Within a couple of days of the attack Javi, the President come cruisin' for a photo op. So we formed ourselves into tight opposition groups. You know it's...kinda like 'ol squares in a battle like a, you see on a calendar, like the Battle of Waterloo. And the idea was, the President would go for nearest group and then we'd start poundin' and hollerin' and screamin' and sometimes the President would go away. Sometimes he wouldn't go away. Sometimes that President, he looks right into you. Right into your eyes.

You know the thing about a politician, he's got...lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll's eyes. When he comes at ya, doesn't seem to be livin'. Until he has you sent to Gitmo. And those black eyes roll over white. And then, ah, then you hear that terrible high-pitch screamin' and your family is screaming in terror and in spite of all the poundin' and the hollerin' the Secret Service comes in and rips you to pieces.

It got to be 2006, Javi, an election gave us hope. The House and Senate swung to the Democrats. Anyway we voted and just took control. And two months later, Nancy Pelosi became the speaker, and starts to pick up the pieces of this shattered country. You know that was the time I was most frightened? Waitin' for the tide to turn back. I'll never get on a commercial airliner again. So, Three thousand men and women were killed, The constitution was destroyed, and America became a police state, September the 11th, 2001. Anyway, we took back the Congress.

He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark moustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.

That's the scary ending that I'm afraid of.