In my mind, I rationalize the pat down. I know that the screener looks infinitely more ridiculous doing it that I do getting it. I also know that a observer, watching the pat down of an overweight old guy gets an incremental education on the whole security farce. I have made my choice between three negative alternatives, a virtual strip search, a pat down and not flying. The pat down offers the least pain to me at the maximum pain to the TSA.

It and the strip search are both wrong in my opinion, and I will work diligently to end them. I can also sympathize and support those that choose to not be touched by a stranger and elect to not travel at all. They have made their rational decisions as well.

Finally, I would have to agree that the pat downs I have had are not as bad as some reports I have read. I fully expect that I will get my outlier soon enough.