Psst, it's 'security' not 'plastics'

  A number of memorable lines from The Graduate (1967) occasionally come to mind. One of them is where a family friend whispers to young Ben, "plastics," as an inside tip on what to focus his career on.
   Well, today, that word would be "security" — any and all security.
   Whether it be cyber defense or satellites, taekwondo or flashlights or, of course, anything to do with computers or weaponry, demand for security will increase as our sense of personal safety dissipates.
   Security guards will replace fast food workers as entry level positions.
   From 9/11 to every mass shooting past, present and future, we are living in an increasingly capricious world when it comes to life, death and the pain in between.
   You can't go to a school, a courthouse, an airport or, soon, a movie theater without passing some kind of metal detector. My most recent experience at the Tampa International Airport was an exercise in humiliation.
   Since our political leaders do not have the stomach to rein in assault rifles, the government will chip away at our privacy rights to determine who is a lunatic and who is not. And, somehow, we will allow them to do so.
   As each day passes, some credit company or government agency has to come forward and admit that they have been hacked or simply 'lost' personal financial information or social security numbers.
   For the rest of us we have to choose whether or not to hand over our personal information to a company who purportedly will safeguard our data. How ironic: Giving up your secrets to someone you don't know in order to feel secure.
   We are becoming increasingly suspicious in the "freest" nation in the world.
   We have to be.