THE attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 and the events coming in its wake demonstrate to Guyanese just how small and interconnected is the global village. No doubt the strong connections existing between Guyana and New York meant that the tragedy of September 11 would be a matter of deep intimate personal concern to most Guyanese. Some of those perished in the bombing were Guyanese; some of the rescue workers and volunteers were Guyanese, and many Guyanese knew persons who knew persons who were touched in some way by the disaster.

Since then the incident has been affecting Guyanese in a multiplicity of ways. For some it is an obsessive thirst for news; new first about the attacks, then about the search for survivors, then about America’s response, and the status of that engagement, and about the reactions from Afghans, Muslims and non-Muslims. News, news, news as delivered by CNN, NBC, BBC or other three-letter source.

For some in Guyana the current crisis has prompted smug consolation that for all Guyana’s problems we are unlikely to have to face or endure the kinds of scenarios being played out in America and in Afghanistan. In other, more reflective, circles the bombing and its aftermath have provoked intense and impassioned debate about matters religious and political, about jihads, religious tolerance, US foreign policy, super-power politics, terrorism, about might and right.

Yet others are sensitive to the economic ramifications of the current crisis and perceive increased economic difficulty for Guyana, the Caribbean and much of the world. Many wonder openly about the effect that massive job losses and layoffs in the US would have on remittances to Guyana from overseas Guyanese. There has been voiced a concern about Christmas. Will overseas Guyanese travel home in those numbers this year?

Will business be robust or will international events paralyse international commerce and deal a blow to the domestic economy?

Whatever the nature of the concern, fact is that there is a pervasive concern and anxiety afflicting us in Guyana, far removed as we are from the theatre of conflict.

There is much in the current crisis that could be instructive to us. First should be our unequivocal abhorrence of terrorism as a mechanism for pursuing political objectives. Second should be an equally unequivocal commitment to a culture of acceptance of religious and political freedom and diversity and a sensitivity to the special conditions and circumstances of each group as determined by its historical experience. The imperative to understand should be as strong as the imperative to condemn. In fact to condemn without understanding prepares us for imitating those we condemn.

Whatever unfolds in the arena of commerce over the next few months, as a direct result of the September incident, will surely be putting Guyana to a severe test. But beyond the dollars and cents, beyond the economic calculations, lies a profounder challenge and test for Guyana -- to manage conflict in so responsible a manner that no group, through such despair about the process, pursues terror as a means to attain its ends.