THE DISASTERS of September 11 did not only rock New York and the Pentagon in Washington DC. Their ripple effect was felt all around the world. And even today, countries are still counting their dead and hoping desperately that the number of victims would not rise much higher and that persons listed as missing would soon be located in one of the scores of hospitals in New York.

The sheer magnitude of the onslaught executed by terrorists with such deadly accuracy had seasoned commentators and journalists groping at the muses for new terms of description. Late on the very night of September 11, one television commentator uttered a few sombre lines that could be categorised as pure poetry. He said, “…We are a strong people, a tough people; but tonight we are wounded, and we bleed.” A few hours later, Ms Martine Dennis, a BBC television anchor, posed this question with smooth professional aplomb to another commentator: “Don’t you agree that for Americans, their continuing sense of inviolability is gone?”

Indeed, the sense of inviolability that so many people took for granted has been brutally shattered, and even if one has no cause or desire to set foot on American soil, the free and easy access to public places such as airports will be drastically curtailed. The movement of masses of people in certain places will be controlled, checked, monitored and documented. The purchase of tools and other objects that can be utilised as weapons will now be noted and information on receipts and chits will be stored.

One senior Government official mused wryly on Wednesday that the tiny pair of scissors that he uses to trim his moustache will now have to be left at home since he would be prevented from taking them aboard an aircraft, thanks to the new rules which restrict any sharp object from being included in the luggage of a passenger. It means also that travellers have to factor in an extra two hours or so for pre-departure processing by airport officials.

American investigators have established that the groups of terrorists, armed with knives and box-cutters, hijacked four commercial aircraft, which they then converted into flying bombs to destroy the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York and a section of the Pentagon in Washington DC.

In these early days of the aftermath of the tragedies, American airline personnel report that passengers are very accommodating and have not complained of the long wait while their luggage is carefully checked. But it would surprise no one, if this time next year, when the memory of the tragic events of September 11 has faded a little, that travellers begin to clamour for a less comprehensive and more time-efficient mode of checking.

The sense of inviolability that persons previously enjoyed in their travels between the Caribbean and the United States and between the United Kingdom and the European continent is now a thing of the past. Hijackings were supposed to happen only in those unstable areas of the globe, where flash-point conflict, civil strife and internecine war constitute a way of life. Not anymore. The inexorable march of globalisation has brought the effects of strife and conflict from one section of the planet to the doorstep of communities half a world away. One is not just an innocent bystander but a participant in the process. Every other Guyanese at home has a sister, brother, parent or offspring, who has a first-hand story to tell of the horrific events of September 11.

Our late lamented poet, Martin Carter, was so right; all are involved, and all are indeed consumed.