I had this odd thought today. It was the end of a train of though, the weird little “what-if” games your mind plays with you. Well, at least, mine does, I don’t know if yours does. I don’t even know who you are. But, I digress.

I was opening a door. Specifically, a bathroom door as I was leaving. I’d just finished washing and drying my hands, and as I grasped the handle to open the door, I reflected on how I likely undid any significant benefit of washing my hands, given that not everyone who opened that door prior to my doing it washed their hands. That got me reflecting on how, if one were so inspired (and to remove any doubt, I promise I’m not so inspired), one could treat door handles with some sort of chemical agent to make people sick.

That started my mind wandering down the path of how so many of the everyday actions and transactions in which we partake could be a path to someone who felt so inspired to do harm. And it made me come back to the realization that unless we’re willing to become some insular society who wear rubber gloves and masks, we’re never really safe. In fact, as long as we’re a society, we’re never really safe. Interaction introduces risk.

In a week, I’ll get to experience the joy of flying again. And, because it’s a short jaunt and I strongly distrust baggage handlers, I shan’t be checking any luggage. So I must, for reasons I still cannot comprehend, choose tiny portions of things to bring with me (deodorant, cologne, toothpaste). Or I can go without and buy stuff once I get there. Neither is appealing.

But it doesn’t matter! It’s a useless exercise — I know it, and the screeners know it. This isn’t going to prevent anything but convenience. Those who are determined to do harm will do harm. We can try to take reasonable measures, we can try to take some unreasonable measures. But it doesn’t help. I’m not going to sit here and list the myriad ways that the measures taken can be circumvented for someone to do something bad — that’s not what this is about. This is about realizing what “we” are up against.

I put “we” in quotes, because, well, I mean those who seek to keep us in fear. I’m not a conspiracy nut, but it doesn’t take a lot of study to realize that the current (or any) administration’s best friend is a populace in fear. If we start walking up to airport gates without going through a strip search and our 1/4 gallon bag of toiletries, we might start to feel normal. And if we’re feeling normal, we won’t look the other way at the things that are happening in our name around the world and at home.

I firmly believe the attacks on 9/11 took place to punish the U.S. for its foreign policy. To think otherwise is naïve. A lot of civilians died because a group who disagree with the U.S. government’s policies and dealings in the Middle East wanted to punish us. Our government is and has been screwing with other countries in support of its own ideals and goals, and people who by and large had nothing to do with that died. Conversely, our government’s punishment for the attack caused a couple of orders of magnitude more deaths. But, again, that’s not what this is about either.

We’re up against people who will not stop until we’re out of their affairs. They are willing to die for their cause. In their history books, they are the good guys and we are the bad guys. In their doctrine, we’re the dehumanized and evil heathen, and they are the righteous. When you are up against an enemy (whether that enmity is justified or not) who will do anything and everything including sacrificing their own lives to win, and where “win” might just equal “kill you”, a 3 ounce limit on a bottle of liquid isn’t going to do squat.

Except keep the populace scared out of their pants.

So, just remember. If you want to live in fear, then do it with gusto. Wear your rubber gloves, only eat food you’ve grown yourself, only drink water you’ve boiled and filtered, don’t meet anyone new, and don’t even think about traveling. To do anything less is exposing you to the terrorism you fear so much. It’s not the stuff we’ve though of that will be exploited, it’s the stuff we haven’t thought of.

The difference in terms of my personal safety and well-being between 9/10/2001 and 9/12/2001 is null. And assuming you aren’t in the Middle East, that probably applies to you as well. Terrorism only works if you induce terror, so remember who it benefits when you choose to be afraid.

And yes, I still wash my hands.