I recently saw the movie Snakes on a Plane.  During the movie, the line that by far got the most audience response was when an exasperated Samual L. Jackson yelled out "I'm tired of these MFing snakes on this MFing plane."  The audience clapped and cheered because we understood his fatigue and anger. 

I recently had my own 'snakes' moment when going through airport security while re-entering the US.  When 9/11 first occurred, there was a sense of patriotic duty to not complain about the security.  After all, no one wanted a reoccurence and if this is what it took, then we were willing to comply.  However, I think I had the feeling that the stepped security measures had some level of temporariness around them.  Was I ever naive!  Instead, the measures just keep getting worse and worse with no end in sight.

When we have fought in traditional wars, there has eventually arrived a time of peace.  When Germany and Japan surrendered, then we could relax, knowing that there would be no more attacks because the enemy had been beaten.  However, in the War on Terror, there is no enemy to surrender.  There is no country to beat.  Instead, the enemy is more like a cancer that has metastasized and is scattered through the world.  How do you defeat an enemy like this?  When do you ever get to relax again?  In the world of diseases, you search out ever cancer cell and eradicate it.  Does this mean that we now must search out every terrorist cell in the world and eradicate it?  Perhaps.  Do we have the stomach for that cure?  Perhaps not.  All I know is that I’m tired of these MFing snakes on these MFing planes.