Before Sept. 11, security looked to be the biggest topic for the NetWorld+Interop show, since incidents like Code Red had convinced network managers they needed to treat user security seriously. After Sept. 11, security was a bona fide obsession for anyone involved in communications.

All too many pundits have reminded us in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks that U.S. citizens have woken from their naive dreams of invulnerability. But through the better part of 2001, most of us had already faced a lot of ugly realities, and recognized that our society has skated on false beliefs about economic and political hegemony for too long. The attacks merely underscored that message, with a very bloody exclamation point.

We would do the dead an injustice if we used Sept. 11 as an excuse to become a total security state, thereby eliminating the best parts of American culture. Another injustice would occur if the planning for specific military and economic sanctions gave way to rash military adventurism on the part of the government or blind racism on the part of its citizens. Luckily, the first few days after the attacks have shown little evidence of such indiscriminate hatred taking hold.

There's no reason Sept. 11 should lead to an utter collapse of consumer spending, though a slight antidote to our rampant consumerism should be a relief. When Rudy Giuliani tells us the best thing we can do is continue with our daily lives, I'm with him-to a point.

In fact, we should continue our post-crash mode of existence, when care for others and working for charities eclipsed the desire to maximize personal wealth. We should continue our sober post-crash view of the world, and realize we have neither the power nor the authority to expect to get our own way globally. But we should also hold onto our post-crash view of security, keeping our attitudes and borders relatively open while demanding that there be no room on this planet for ideologies that encourage martyrdom in the pursuit of genocide.

Everything has indeed changed since the silly Wonderland of 1998-2000, a fantasy that deserved to die. But little has changed between early 2001 and the days following Sept. 11, save a greater sorrow for how harsh the world can be. The biggest tragedy is that it took the fall of a crystal palace, rather than the fall of the economy, to drive home the message.