A few things
OK, so two more observations about Mexico, even though I've been home for nearly 10 days.
1. You know those little stickers people put in the back windows of their vehicles with a stick person to represent each member of the family? Yeah. Those annoying things. They say "look at us! We're the perfect family!" all over them. Except that we all know better, right? The only thing more annoying to me is entire families of Jesus fish all over the back of a vehicle. For the same reason.
Anyway, I noticed a vehicle with a family of stick people on it in Guadalajara when a colleague was driving us back to the office from lunch. I mentioned that we have a lot of those kinds of stickers at home. She said they were rare there, because they were seen as an advertisement to kidnappers that there were children in that family...you know, ripe for the plucking. Like the movie Man on Fire? Yikes. That was a whole new, scary perspective of the annoying stickers for me. Now they are annoying and scary.
2. Airport Security. Or lack thereof. Anyone care to guess which country had the better security...Mexico or the US... on my trip?
See, I had completely forgotten a small bottle of disinfectant in my purse when I left for my trip. I always carry it with me, for those occasions when the kids are climbing and playing in germ infested places. And I had forgotten about it, because it was in a small inner pocket in the depths of my purse.
So, leaving the US... not caught. My purse went through a x-ray machine, but that's it. Nobody questioned the small bottle of liquid in my purse that I had completely forgotten about.
Leaving Mexico... caught. They actually search all carry on's by hand there, sort of like when you go to a baseball game here... but better? I was embarrased when the guy showed me the bottle and said he had to take it. Not just because I had it in the first place, but because it had clearly come across the border with me several days earlier, and not been caught that direction.
I mean, I know we can't bee 100% safe at all times, but c'mon... can't we at least be as safe as a neighboring country that hasn't even been targeted by terrorists to date?
Peace. Holly. Written on Sunday, September 10, 2006
5 Comments:
I don't like those stick figure decals either. And you know I thought about the "advertising family" the very first time I saw them, especially when they have the names above. Now the kidnappers know your kids name. Not good. But I over worry all the time! :) I have to go back and catch up now on your Mexican visit...
You know, people used to put stickers on their kid's windows to let firefighters know where children would be in case of a fire, then it dawned on everybody that we were telling creepy people where our kids were sleeping.
I don't think I've seen those stick people stickers! Creepy for sure.
Dang, Holly....I can see why you would be concerned. It is embarrassing that we are the so called leader in the world, but fail so profusely when it comes to little details that might make a HUGE difference.
You'll have to post a pic of these stickers as I've never seen them. But you're previous commentor is right, I had used those fireman stickers for years and then got to thinking about it.
I agree Holly - for the same reason I think signs in the front yard welcoming newborn babies home are dangerous. It's sad that we live in a world where that might be true..
As for airport security - until we give up being 100% politically correct, we'll always have the weakest security. Other countries don't care who they offend.
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