Son didn’t need to know details

News these days can be traumatizing. I can still hear the screams of that man who was beaten and dragged off that United Airlines Chicago flight. While we may worry about a terrorist attack or take-over when flying, such thoughts are fleeting because we mostly believe we are safe and it won’t happen to us.

But I’ll bet we never think of anything even close to what happened to that medical doctor, who actually had to undergo reconstructive surgery. What about the men who attacked him? Should they not be charged? Why is it expected that the airline take full responsibility?

Yes, they gave the order, but were those men instructed to use brute force? I’ve heard nothing about them taking responsibility.

Then there’s the case close to home of a 10-year-old Island boy who got bumped due to overselling of seats. While I sympathize with the young family and what they had to go through, I feel badly that they felt their son had to know he got bumped. Why not say the airline is having some problems and we have to do this and this.

Yes, it makes a good news story to say, “our 10-year-old is in the back seat crying,” but my feeling is, as a mother of two adult sons, he didn’t need to know or take the blame for the airline’s stupidity. Hopefully, his memories will be of the vacation, not the trauma of getting bumped.

Kathy Birt,

Mount Stewart