One of the most disgusting experiences in my life was one night shortly before graduation from Infantry Officer Candidate School in Fort Benning, Georgia, when we were ordered to crawl across a sewage drying bed — about 100 yards of yuck!  The object was to demonstrate we had the self-discipline to accomplish the mission — no matter how disgusting.  To me, it was simply absurd!  After so much training and indignation, I would have crawled into the bowels of Hell to graduate from OCS and get my gold Second Lieutenant bars.

Existentialists have great difficulty tolerating absurdity.  It is easier to crawl across a sewage drying bed.

I am always reminded of that disgusting experience when dealing with TSA at airports.  They are indeed masters of absurdity, preferring rules to logic.  Yesterday, I was assigned to the pre-checked line, which means you don’t have remove your shoes or laptop.  Wearing Birkenstock shoes with a steel shank, I expected the alarm to go off, which it did.  Since a METAL detector went off, you would expect them to check for a gun or other metal.  Instead of wanding my pockets for a gun, they merely wiped the palm of my hands, looking for explosive materials.  So, was it stupid or absurd?

Obsessive rule-sucking may be stupid, and it invariably produces something absurd.  Flying is easy.  Tolerating TSA is hard.  Decent people trying to follow mind-numbing rules does not make me feel safe.