The Year 2009 was one of contrasts. As in painting, where light shines brightest against the darkest background (in Italian, ciaroscuro), so seemed 2009.
The darkest hues included the continuance of widespread economic instability in the U.S. and globally, leading to increased job losses, home foreclosures and abrupt life changes. U.S. policy direction shifted radically to favor an increased disregard for the inestimable value of each human life, especially for the most vulnerable-the unborn, the frail and infirm, the elderly, the incapacitated, and the suffering. This included the lifting by executive order of long-standing U.S. protections against the unfettered experimentation of embryos. Mandated funding of abortion on demand and removal of conscience clauses became an integral part of unprecedented U.S. healthcare proposals and debate. Aggressive legislative and policy attacks against traditional family values, the most fundamental building block of society, took place in cities and in elementary schools across the U.S. An especially devastating earthquake killed thousands and completely disrupted community life in the capital of Haiti, with an even larger Chilean earthquake a month later. Increased threats of violence in the Middle East and elsewhere threatened civic peace and stability.