By Michael Patrick O’Brien–
A couple of years ago, a Deseret News article noted a world rife with broken promises and official corruption, where half of all marriages fail. The article wondered whether oaths still matter in the modern age. It is a fair question, especially in light of the Catholic priest sex abuse scandal. I recently got an interesting answer from an unexpected source…a United States Transportation Security Administration (TSA) worker.
The TSA, of course, is part of the Department of Homeland Security and has authority over the security of the traveling public in the United States. The typical TSA officer salary is $38,098, or about $17 per hour. Not much in today’s economy. For several weeks in late 2018 and early 2019, however, they were paid nothing as the most recent American government shutdown ran its course.
As an employment lawyer, I think it is appalling that anyone would be required to ever work without pay. Thus, during the recent shutdown, when I took an airplane trip to Texas, I thanked every TSA officer I could find for coming to work despite the shutdown. They were all gracious and appreciated the gesture. Most simply said something like “thanks for the support.”
Another response, however, was quite different. One TSA officer told me, “Sir, I could not consider doing anything else. I took an oath to do this job and I intend to keep it.” An oath…I was surprised and intrigued.
Oath-taking was common in religious settings, but now occurs in many other parts of society too. Elected officials, soldiers, court witnesses, new lawyers, new doctors, naturalized citizens, people getting married, notaries, and even boy scouts and girl scouts all do it. Yet, I never realized that all TSA employees take an oath too.
They do. It is a very simple oath: “I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully.”
The nineteenth century English novelist Samuel Butler apparently did not think much of oaths and once wrote, “Oaths are but words, and words are but wind.” In contrast, the playwright Robert Bolt, in A Man for All Seasons, used the voice of St. Thomas More talking to his daughter to explain the importance of oaths: “When a man takes an oath, Meg, he’s holding his own self in his own hands. Like water (he cups his hands) and if he opens his fingers then, he needn’t hope to find himself again. Some men aren’t capable of this, but I’d be loathe to think your father one of them.”
My recent, and safe, airplane flight proves that oaths do still matter. The verdict came from a TSA officer whose words are not mere wind, and who likely had no trouble at all finding himself during the recent shutdown.
