As I sit down to write this month’s column it has been a few days since the horrific attack on our neighbors to the south.

Emergency crews are still looking for survivors beneath tones of concrete and steel, people are walking through the streets of New York with pictures of missing loved ones and we are all concerned about the future and how our lives are going to be affected by it all.

I don’t have a crystal ball and certainly no inside connections to the White House or Parliament Hill, but our governments have no choice but to re-evaluate our present border crossing policies.

Crossing the border could turn into a long process requiring pre-authorization, a trailer load of paperwork and other detailed identification processes.

We are all going to have to change our expectations. These delays are going to be a fact of life for a while. (If you have been lucky enough to avoid the line-ups I’m sure you still saw them in this month’s front cover.)

In today’s Just-in-Time world it seems like a step backwards and maybe it is, but if it means keeping people like the ones who were responsible for the New York City/Washington attacks out of this country, that’s okay by me.

The staff of Truck News shares office space with the National Post here in Toronto.

Over the past few days they have limited access to the building, hired additional security and two members of Metro’s finest are on patrol 24 hours a day.

No one is allowed in without a security pass, if you forget it before you head outside for a smoke with your morning coffee, you have to stop and sign-in upon re-entry.

Inconvenient? A little. Piece of mind? Absolutely.

These changes are just the tip of the iceberg.

At this point I’d prefer not to speculate on how our way life will be next week or even next year.

Although at one point I was watching gas prices jump to $5/gallon in some U.S. States – which the government later denied – wondering about life in the movie Road Warrior.

I watched, as I’m sure you did, the World Trade Center towers crumble to the ground.

That scene will be embedded in my mind for the rest of my life.

With many stations reporting on the disaster 24 hours a day, it’s hard not to stay on top of the events as they unfold. CNN is the the only thing on at my house these days.

God, I wish it wasn’t. n

– Rob Wilkins is the publisher of Truck News and he can be reached at 416-442-2097.