Hyper-specificity

Nearly a year ago, the Boston Marathon bombing pierced our collective sense of well-being.  Our nation was riveted by the news coverage - the horrific scene at the finish line, the subsequent shootings of MIT and MBTA Transit police officers, the surreal “lockdown” of the entire city as the police engaged in an unprecedented manhunt, culminating in the shooting of Tamerlan Tsarnaev and the capture of his brother, Dzhokhar, huddled in a winterized boat in a Watertown backyard. 

Almost immediately, the stories of heroism and courage emerged.  Jeff Baumann, his legs blown off, providing an eyewitness description of the suspects that, without question, helped law enforcement to hone in on the perpetrators. Scores of others - rescuers who ran toward the bombing site to render aid, victims whose lives were forever altered, but who nonetheless persevered with dignity and incredible bravery – all etched this event onto the soul of this city.  “Boston Strong” is still heard in these parts from time to time, with no small measure of regional pride.

Now, as we approach the 2014 marathon, news reports of tightened security along the marathon route are taking center stage. And this is where I lose the thread of logic.

The centerpiece of the new security initiative is a “no backpacks” policy.  Also no handbags, no shoulder bags, no bags of any kind.  Boston.com (2/26/2014) reports: “Bags, used in the past by runners to carry clothes and other personal items, will be banned on the buses that carry runners from Boston Common to Hopkinton, where the race starts. And no bags will be brought by those buses back to Boston.”  No. Bags. At. All.

Ostensibly, because the Tsarnaev brothers used backpacks as containers for their deadly bombs last year, we will inoculate ourselves against another bombing by banning bags. 

Right.

Like almost everyone over the age of fifteen, I vividly remember the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001. I need not recount the horror of that event, nor the palpable, fully understandable fear that clouded the years that followed.  One thing about those years has always – even then – struck me as bizarrely illogical: Our national reaction to the fact that airplanes had been used as weapons was to focus intensely on tightening security measures at airports. Air travel became a nightmare of silly rules and endless lines.  Three ounces of liquid in transparent plastic bags.  Random “pull-outs” for more intense pat-downs.  TSA profilers who deny being profilers.  We all accepted, and continue to accept the indignities of this treatment, because airplanes had been used as weapons, once.  Airplanes.  Not trains, buses, tunnels, or other transportation-related items.  Airplanes, specifically.

In December, 2001, while aboard a flight bound for Miami, Richard Reid attempted to detonate bombs embedded in his shoes.  In response to the would be “shoe bomber,” to this day every air traveler must remove his/her shoes as part of the TSA screening process.  Shoes.  Not wigs, gloves, or other particular articles of clothing.  Shoes, specifically.

And now we will focus intensely on bags along the marathon route.  Because two backpacks had been used to effect a horrible outcome, once.

I get it, sort of; but if I go into town to watch the marathon (running is, and always has been, out of the question) I’ll be keeping my eye on the trees, the storefronts, the manhole covers… pretty much anything but the bags, because we’ve got them covered.