I learned the positive benefits of the European Union Schengen Treaty when I went to the Düsseldorf airport with the "little mouse" this morning

Our youth group returned to Germany last night after attending the United Church of God British Isles summer camp. This morning I was scheduled to drive the Swiss member of our group – our "little mouse" – back to the Düsseldorf airport for her flight to Zürich. Since it was a mid-morning flight, we needed to leave on time to make it through rush hour traffic around Cologne. I arrived at 7 a.m. at Jesmina Allaoua’s house to pick her up and she was already downstairs and ready for the drive from Bonn to the airport. I asked her if she had everything including her personal identity card (used instead of a passport for domestic European travel). She said she had it in her backpack, so I loaded her luggage into my car and we drove to the airport. However, when we got to the check-in counter, she could not find her identity card. There was no time to drive back to Bonn and return, so we asked the Lufthansa agent what the options were. She told us that it should be possible for our "little mouse" to fly anyway since Switzerland was a member of the Schengen treaty and there would not be any passport check upon arrival in Zürich. The Schengen treaty provides "borderless" travel with Europe among countries that are signatories to the treaty. So the problem was solved. I accompanied her to her gate and saw her off. Upon returning to my car in the parking garage, I found the identity card on the back seat. It apparently had fallen out of the backpack and we had not noticed it. So she had it with her after all.