I was traveling with my 6 year old through MAF yesterday. As usual, they opened up the WTMD just for us and made everyone else go through the MMW. My son had never really noticed the scanner before but he sure noticed it yesterday.

"Dad, what's that thing?"

"Remember when you asked me about the news that time and I said that sometimes the government just wants to make people scared so they can tell them what to do? That machine is there to make people scared."

Just then some guy working in the checkpoint (literally, no uniform and no suit, just a white short-sleeve button down and ID badge) butted in and said to my son, "It's also to keep you safe."

I looked him in the eye and said, "No, that's what you want people to believe... AND DO NOT TALK TO MY SON."

He looked like I had slapped him across the face and then after a few seconds turned and resumed pulling bags out of the x-ray and sliding them down the table.

My son and I proceeded to discuss the meaning of the word, "boondoggle," which he had never heard before, but instantly grasped.