No More Shoe Removal at Louisiana Airports?

I can't remember when I was so excited hearing a news story than I was when I heard the TSA announcement that they are no longer requiring passengers to remove their shoes when going through security at at the airport.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem made the announcement on Tuesday, and you could almost hear the cheers from happy passengers across the country.

It's hard to believe that we have been having to remove our shoes while going through airport security for over 25 years now.  And it all started because one idiot tried to blow himself and others up through explosives hidden in his shoes.

The Reason We've Had to Remove Our Shoes

The "shoe bomber" was Richard Reid, a British Islamic terrorist who attempted to detonate explosives hidden in his shoes on American Airlines Flight 63 in December 2001. He boarded the flight from Paris to Miami, but the explosives failed to ignite properly due to a faulty fuse. Passengers and crew subdued him, and the plane was diverted to Boston.  

It's also hard for some of us to believe that "911" was 25 years ago.  The attack on the World Trade Center, along with the attack on the Pentagon, was one of those pivotal historical moments that defined the memories of a generation.

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Much like those who remember every detail about the exact moment they heard that President John F. Kennedy was assasinated, or when Pearl Harbor was attacked, most of us remember the exact moment we first heard "a plane just crashed into the World Trade Center."

The world changed at that moment.  And some of those changes will be permanent, but thankfully this is one of the changes that is now going back to 'normal.'  And it only took 25 years.