Have The Terrorists Won?

Today’s announcement that we will once again be permitted to bring cigarette lighters onto planes is, I’m speculating, designed to support the idea that the terrorists have not won. Since we can't smoke in the air, I'm not sure why one needs to bring a lighter onboard, but this appears, from the TV announcements, to be a tremendous victory. Or is simply a reflection that nobody has threatened us with a Zippo?

I’m not sure how to calculate if the terrorists have won, but I’ve had it with heroics designed to say, “no way” to them. I’ve been going on the subways, flashing my senior Metro card so that my local cell might notice they haven’t deterred me from my daily routine. Anyone flying these days can see nobody’s winning – not the terrorists, passengers or airlines.

The daily reports on deaths in Iraq, the war now billed as the "war on terrorism", may be a better indicator of who's winning than whether or not I have the courage to use public transportation.