Wearing blue jeans and presenting yourself as the average college student can have a profound effect when crossing border security.
It may not surprise you that Israel has a unique security process for taking flights into and out of the country. Before checking in for you flight and dropping of your bags, there is an initial questioning process. You approach a counter where a man or woman takes your passport and proceeds to intimidatingly delivery questions. What's your name? What are the names of the people who live in your house? Who packed your bag? Where has your bag been since it was packed?
For this story you must now picture an 18 year old girl with a large suitcase, highly decorated dreadlocks and ticket to the the Israeli burningman.
What is in your bag?
~ two tents, 15 blacklight flashlights, a painting on a bedsheet and a unicycle.
Do you have family in Israel?
~no
Where will you be staying?
~I'm going to the Burning Man
But the burning man is bigger in the States. Why wouldn't you go to that one?
~because I’d rather go to Israel?
Your return flight is in a month, the festival is for a week. Where will you be staying for the rest of the time?
~uh… (how do you explain that you have no concrete plans for after the festival in hopes you will meet someone who invite you on an adventure)
The woman at this point walks away with my passport and returns with 3 large men and no passport. The men inform me that I have been “randomly selected” to be formally searched. I wave goodbye to my terrified mother as these men take my things from me and lead me to a small room.
It is curious that each of the individuals they brought to this room were all young solo travelers. The men searched my things and to their surprise found nothing incriminating.
To border patrol hippies appear to be the radical alternative minds that they don't want infecting their country. What to us seems to be an expression of compassion, community and creativity, a societal enforcer sees as a virus seeking to disrupt the sheeple. I once had a police officer tell me I could not enter a Donald Trump Rally with my unicycle on the account that it could be used as a weapon. Oddly I agree with this misguided police officer as the unicycle is a weapon of the mind. Showing someone something fun a playful that breaks they're perception of the reality of human capability initiates their questioning of reality itself.
On another account of border crossing, my car was flagged for inspection while crossing from Canada to Detroit. The guy seemed so confused when he delivered me this information. He stumbles, “uh, they are just sending me the message that you are being flagged as a random.” While waiting in line for over an hour, I discovered that others had been flagged for passport questions if they had a non US or Canadian passport. Others were flagged as agriculture hazards. Mine had no excuse. My official notice said I was a “random”.
When I approached the counter they had not given me a pen. He told me just to inform them out loud what biological materials I am transporting. With honesty I reported, “there is a sharks head on the dashboard, a dried pomegranate, a box of bird feathers, a deer’s pelvis and some grapes.” Everyone in the office stared at me curious confused or horrified.
I must appear to be an easy target for a drugs bust. The irony is that I do not smoke weed or transport any other substances. All I am transporting typically is intense curiosity.
Long story short: now I wear blue jeans on planes.
Please comment and follow if you have resonated with anything from my story. The communication of like-minded individuals is the amplification and expansion of an idea. This is called community and community is powerful.