On my travels, I never cease to be amazed and frustrated at the sensitivity of the person scanner at Dubai International Airport. On the way to India, I was stripped down to my jeans, T-shirt, shoes and underwear but still managed to set off the sensor. On my way back, I thought I would pre-empt it and take my shoes off before passing through. Failed again! An alarm sounded, at which point I said to the security officer, ‘What more do you want me to take off?’ I am sure the day will come when I will be standing nearly naked in the middle of Dubai airport being frisked by a burly man determined to find something potentially dangerous on my person! How a pair of rubber soled shoes with leather uppers and no trace of metal can set off a sensor is beyond me. I am not alone in falling foul of these scanners as a trail of people are sent back through to discard further items before setting off the alarm once more. I wish they would get an engineer to turn down the sensitivity a little.

Sometimes, we can all be a little over-sensitive. Life’s circumstances and experiences can cause us to overreact when someone says something out of turn to us, or we can find ourselves being overly emotional at the slightest thing. I am far more likely to cry at a movie on a plane, especially if I have been away for a couple of weeks. Whilst such responses are a natural part of being human, each of us must be careful that our reactions are not destructive to those around us. If somebody does react in a way that we find difficult, it is also important for each one of us to give grace to one another and not let it destroy our unity.

God Bless,

Richard