I think the most interesting aspect of 2001 was how narrowly-focussed our nation was after September 11th. Things that normally would have generated a lot of controversy were deemed acceptable when done in the name of "support of our nation and its victims." For example, a few New York City area Planned Parenthood clinics offered free abortions in the wake of 9/11, which usually would've garnered at least a story during some part of the evening news or in the Nation/World News section of the newspaper -- especially given the fact that I would expect a decent amount of protests as a result -- but I didn't hear about it until I read it in one of Newsweek's "Year in Review" recaps this week. In the name of patriotism and national security, "inalienable human rights" were abrogated by our Dictator-in-Training, Señor Ashcroft, but I didn't hear much response from the ACLU. And in the space of a single week, our Not-So-Fearless Leader's approval rating jumped over 40 points, yet he didn't even take any action during the actual week of September 11th except make a few flowery speeches about how we need to stand firm in the face of adversity and how "we're gonna git 'im."

September 11th brought a new and almost McCarthy-esque view on supporting America, in some ways. I'd say at least half if not more of the cars I see on the road today are either flying a small American flag or have a flag sticker. Flag companies were suddenly inundated with purchase requests to the point where many sold out their stocks within two weeks of 9/11. And people who didn't fly flags were considered "unpatriotic" by some -- I myself was the among the targets of personal attacks because of my lack of flag, despite my feelings that our country is not reduced to a piece of fabric or a sticker but that our spirit is embodied in many different things, including what I had hoped would be tolerance for other cultures as heralded by our supposedly democratic and "open" and "accepting" ways of society. Muslims expressed fear of wearing traditional garb in public because they were scared of being attacked by angry mobs, mosques were subjected to vandalism and Arab-Americans took over the #1 spot of ethnicities targeted by racial profiling.

One of the more interesting aspects of the post-September 11 donation spree was the controversy surrounding the Red Cross. When the Red Cross announced they were splitting post-9/11 donations between victims' families and preparing for future disasters, protests and accusations erupted from all over the country. Immediately after the terrorist attacks, Red Cross blood bank stores soared -- but now almost 4 months later, they are once again in need of blood donations yet the several-hourlong lines to donate blood are no longer there. And the uproar about the donation money guarantees that families who suffer losses because of natural disasters -- such as the communities in the Dakotas who lost everything in the flooding last year -- will never see a dime of this outpouring of American generosity because it all went to the WTC victims' families. Not that the WTC victims' families don't need it as well, but it's still all cases of being affected by circumstances beyond their control, be they terrorists or acts of Nature. People in this country still need help, even if they weren't attacked by terrorists, which why I think ideas like Sheldon's bobupndown penny drive for charity are so valuable.

It's been predicted that the nation will start to recover from this recession around the middle of 2002, but I expect that the War on Terrorism will be long and protracted and will last throughout the year. It's just a matter of which runs out first -- our intelligence information and ability to find and capture terrorists, or our collective attention span.