Many people still don't believe it but innocence and trust no longer live in America.
September 11 destroyed it. The daily news and periodic movements of the government's terror alert level remind us regularly that times have changed.
Which is why Congress and the U.S. Transportation Security Administration think it's important that private bus operators receive security training.
TSA has given the American Bus Association and the United Motorcoach Association $1.6 million to deliver security training to more than 2,000 motorcoach operators across the U.S.
Letters from the two associations are in the mail, asking operators to participate in a training program specifically designed for the motorcoach industry.
We urge operators receiving the letters to sign up. The first step is easy: simply sign and return the form that accompanies the letter coming from the associations. The first 2,200 operators who return signed forms will receive training materials and participate.
Doubtless there are scores of operators who will scoff at the idea and consider the whole scheme a waste of taxpayer money.
They may be right.
But then again, given the mushy and changing definition of terrorism, all it takes is one small incident by one small-time idiot to screw up everything.
Increasingly, attacks on bus drivers are being defined as acts of terrorism and federal charges are brought against perpetrators.
There's also a new concept of liability that is rapidly gaining recognition in the courts that could devastate your company if you are unprepared when a security-related incident strikes. The concept is known as negligent failure to plan.
September 11 also gave new impetus to this insidious concept.
The federal judge handling the litigation over the 9/11 terrorist attacks ruled that the airlines, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and the owners of the World Trade Center had a responsibility to protect the people on the ground and in the skies.
Some whacko attacking one of your drivers could leave you wide open for a liability claim under the failure-to-plan concept. But if the driver has received security training it could help prevent a successful claim that any security omissions were deliberate and intentional.
Security training won't inoculate you in such circumstances but claims against you will be that much more difficult to sustain.
So, when that letter from the UMA and the ABA lands on your desk, do the prudent thing.