Metal Detectors

I sometimes feel like I am in the Land of Metal Detectors here. You have to pass through a metal detector everywhere you go. Not just at the airports and government buildings, but even when we go to the mall, movies, library, or grocery store. Heck, even our own school has one at every entrance.

The thing that gets me is that they seem to be pointless. I never empty my pockets or take of my jewelry and detectors beep just about every time I walk through; but in two years, I have never once been stopped. I have even boarded a plane with an open bottle of water in my hand. I have determined that the guy that watches your bag on the monitor of the x-ray machine has a job equivalent to a Wal-Mart greeter. I’m beginning to think that half the metal detectors do not even work. It makes me think of the old Police Academy movie when Michael Winslow would make the beeping sound every time Lieutenant Harris would walk through.

My favorite example of this was when Seth’s family was here and we were taking them to the Citadel, one of the most popular tourist attractions in Egypt. There was a large gate open, big enough for two cars to fit through, but they wouldn’t let any people walk through. Instead they funneled everyone through this small guard shack and created quite the bottle neck. When we finally got to the guard shack, the metal detector wasn’t even turned on and the three guards were sitting in front of a laptop with video controllers in each of their hands playing Nintendo 64. Not once did they look up from the screen that I was able to stop and point out this hilarious behavior to all our family. I thought taking a picture might be pushing my luck.