The Illusion of Security

The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. Psalm 18:2

Yesterday it was the non-stop coverage of the plane crashing into the building in Austin. Prior to that it was the lock-down of the Capitol due to the man firing a gun on the south steps of the Capitol. Before that it was the underwear bomber, the shoe bomber, 9-11, Timothy McVeigh, the attack on the USS Cole and the list goes on and on and on.

Horrible, terrible no good things happen and people try to make sense of them. In an effort to create the illusion of security, the government generally intervenes to "close the barn door" on a particular situation so that it will not recur. So, we have long lines at airport security. Barefoot and beltless, we walk through the check points. Our finger nail clippers, nail files, and bottles of water are confiscated. We are subject to metal detectors, pat downs and searches of our luggage.

Does having the government employee search you make you any safer? It doesn't me. But then I don't generally carry anything other than my knitting needles that could be used as a weapon in the first place. And, oddly enough, airport security does not care that I have knitting needles, somehow thinking that ten inch long, pointed, metal rods do not pose the threat of something more sinister like nail clippers.

At work, I swipe my security card to get in the parking garage, use it again to get into the building, and yet again to get out of the building, and again to exit the parking garage. My every move in the halls of the Capitol are watched by DPS officers or security cameras. Great time and expense is gone to to ensure that I and my fellow employees are not a security risk. Meanwhile, the general public usually has unfettered access to the Capitol without question. Hence, the gunman on the front steps.

In all honesty, the security risks do not bother me as much as the loss of liberty in the name of security. The only way government can make our environment totally secure is by taking away all liberty. I would rather not see that happen. I prefer the approach of Todd Beamer, the great American who, after praying the Lord's Prayer and reciting Psalm 23, led his fellow passengers to take back control of the fourth hijacked plane on September 11, 2001. It was the only hijacked flight that day that failed to reach its intended destination.

Your security lies in your relationship with your Lord and Savior. Once you establish that, you do not have to spend much time fretting over the news of the day.