As I write this, it's been just 4 days since the attack on America. That day I was in Banff, Alberta at the annual meeting of the Industrial Truck Association. It's quite an international meeting with strong representation not just from the United States and Canada but from Europe and Japan too. Perhaps needless to say, all from the worldwide lift truck industry are equally horrified as any American at the cataclysmic events of September 11.

At the moment, it's tough to get past the human toll. The closest strikes to home are the deaths of two executives, Jeffrey Mladenik and Andrew Curry Green, from my own company. Both were on American Airlines flight 11, the first plane to hit the World Trade Center. They will be sadly missed in ways we cannot yet imagine. Our deepest sympathies go out to their families.

It will take us all some time to absorb Tuesday's events and find a context for them. As we work through our feelings, we will also be considering what this attack means to us as a nation and as a culture.

I can't help but think back to the Tylenol scare. On the scale of September 11, it sounds too puny to bring up. But it's not. Many of the same dynamics are at work. To begin, everyone in the nation felt threatened. It had been a long time since most had considered how easily our relatively blind trust in others could be violated and our lives put in jeopardy. Fortunately, the appropriate steps were taken to prevent future scares. We may not like all those protective caps and seals, but that's not the issue. Safety and trust are.

Similarly, we now have to look at so many aspects of our freedoms that have long been taken for granted. Like most others, I will be glad to see armed, uniformed guards at the Calgary airport when I get there. I'm less enthusiastic about all the extra time business travel will take, but must adjust. However, those issues are just the focus of today. Much greater concerns are certainly ahead of us.

Already there are reports that some of our civil liberties will have to be suspended to ensure an adequate level of safety in our daily lives far away from airports. In Canada, there's talk that the country will have to give up some of its sovereignty. Specifically, there's speculation that to establish a true North American security zone, Canada will need to adopt the same foreign policy as America. These are stunning considerations that would have been considered ludicrous on September 10.

Whoever included the word "war" in the President's speech immediately after the attacks is, in my book, a genius. It set the tone for now and for the changes in our way of life that are today both unidentified and inevitable. The cold fact is whoever masterminded this attack clearly saw themselves at war with America before the first plane hit its target.

The events of September 11 changed us forever. I left for Banff with quite a different outlook on America and how we live our lives than I am returning with. I am getting ready to go home as I write this, but it is clearly not the same place I left just a week ago. And I have to accept that before I get there.