Stamps and Stickers

I was staring at my passport today. In the last few years and especially now with Bulgaria’s entry into the EU it has slowly emptied of visas… and also of stamps. Now when you pass through immigration in another EU country all you get is a nod. Not that that is something to necessarily complain about (in fact, it most definitely is not) … but somehow, all of a sudden, I find my passport looking kind of empty. Well, not completely empty though. Because the stamps and visas have been replaced by security stickers on its outer covers. Stickers verifying that the security “screeners” at the airport (when you fly a US airline to the US) have asked you all of their security questions (like “Who packed your bags? When and where did you pack your bags? Are you carrying any weapons or objects that can be used as weapons?”) and deemed you NOT to be a potential threat. The stickers are different colors on the different days and they bear the “screener’s” initials and the date of the flight. These stickers also get attached to your checked luggage. If a piece of luggage appears in the luggage area that does not bare the right sticker, it is removed. (I am not really sure what happens to it afterwards but I wouldn’t be surprised if it were destroyed.) But I think I went off on a tangent. All I wanted to say is that although we are now more free to move unhindered across borders, in other areas the prohibitions continue to grow. The visa “stickers” on the passport pages have been replaced by small security stickers on the covers. I wonder where we will go next?