jooles

Orchids: > it is really degrading to know that people have been asked to take off their paags at airports.. Here's a link to the pretty robust memo that the American Sikhs sent to their government to set matters straight. http://www.sikhcoalition.org/Legal101601.pdf Indeed, I agree it is *perfectly* out of order. I like a nice Tom Waits or Beefheart song myself, but Google seems to agree there's that band, so maybe I ought to look out for some :-) LegendarySiKH: The neckware version sounds an excellent compromise, which will keep everyone happy. From my understanding, though, the knife itself is purely a symbol of justice. Seems a daft thing in a way, to have to take a symbol of something that is a symbolic item, but such is the madness of our society now. What intrigues me most is the way that different rules would be applied in different places. For instance; my guess is that in an airport such as Heathrow, there may be very few problems. Here in Brussels, where there are fewer Sikhs, I think a kirpan may raise a couple of raised eyebrows but be allowed once it is known what it means. When one considers the US situation, I suppose the attitudes are less flexible :-( rgds, and thanks for the replies, j

Hi everyone, Firstly, what a superb community; I have spent a couple of most enjoyable hours browsing the discussions in here. I am not Sikh (I'm probably best described as agnostic) but I'm most certainly of a like mind with you regarding all of us being equal; I don't care for a lot of pomp and ceremony; people kicking off conflict for the sake of some old dogma makes me nauseous, and so on. Sikhism seems a thoughtful and benevolent set of beliefs to me. May I ask a question. It seems as though the carrying of the kirpan might have lead to some pretty nasty times when travelling via airline, or, in fact entering any other area where security control is in force. So, is there any consistency in the way that the security people deal with this? I remember reading very soon after the 11/9 attacks complaints of grossly insensitive treatment of Sikhs regarding removal of turbans in public, but I can't help thinking that at the very thought of non-Christians having a knife in a public place (panic panic) that the powers that be would freak out completely. Thanks for any answers, and I hope my question is in the correct forum. j