Dear 2016,
This is it. Finally, we have reached the end of the year that everyone truly on this planet has honestly come to dislike. When I came into this year, I honestly had high hopes. I was graduating high school with honors, going to college, and ready to start a new chapter in my life, but everything that has happened this year has kind of made my usually cheery light inside me dim down to a small blimp.
2016, you have taken away people that everyone loved and looked up to. It started off with David Bowie and Alan Rickman (which hit me hard, as I am a huge Harry Potter fan). Then it continued with Harper Lee, Prince, Muhammad Ali, Christina Grimmie, Gene Wilder, George Michael, and last but not least: Carrie Fisher along with her mother, Debbie Reynolds who were both women such a strong impact for all females portrayed in film and television everywhere.
You have been the cause of some of the worst events in the past years. Between the shooting at the Orlando Pulse Nightclub on June 12th that killed 49 people and the Bastille Day attack in France on July 14th, a death toll of 85. As well as everything that has been happening in Syria, from the refugees to Aleppo.
You had the presidential election, which showed that racism is still very much truly alive in this world and in this country, where everyone is supposed to be treated “equally.”
You had a creepy clown faze, where everyone would walk around and dress as clowns to scare people or even harm them or the fact that everyone took the unlawful death of a gorilla and turned it into a damn meme, where he became a joke. You were the year where Zika was prominent and now millions of babies will be born with deformities because it has spread, even to the United States, although not nearly as bad as it is in other countries.
2016, you kinda sucked. But, as one of my favorite fictional characters, Albus Dumbledore once said, “Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.” Although 2016 was terrible, there were still the little lights that I could find that somehow didn’t make this year as bad as it could have been.
You brought two of the biggest religions in the world, Catholics and Eastern Orthodox, to meet, when the two leaders met for a two-hour get-together for the first time in 1,000 years. For the first time in 100 years, the world tiger count rose. Team USA, as well as many other countries, made the Olympics in Brazil a beautiful event to remember, from Simone Biles strutting her stuff on the gymnastics floor, to Michael Phelps scoring even more gold medals, to Usain Bolt running at record speed.
The Chicago Cubs won the World Series for the first time in several decades. The United States graduation rate reached an all-time high. Disney started to include more diversity into their movies and taking more risks, from Zootopia’s tackling of racism to Moana’s beautiful culture and music being discovered, and showing diversity to the typical Disney princess role.
Leonardo DiCaprio finally won an Oscar.
Beyoncé, Bruno Mars and many others loved artist’s debuted albums that touched not only old-school style beats, but also real issues and real topics. TV shows that brought back nostalgia reigned superior, such as Stranger Things, The Get Down, and This Is Us, and everyone’s favorite shows returned back to the TV screen, like Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Gilmore Girls, Grey’s Anatomy, Empire, and many, many more.
Doctors who researched Ebola finally found a breakthrough in a way to treat it, and are developing a vaccine. The first commercial flight from USA to Cuba took place after 50 years. Pokémon, another nostalgia fuel, found its resurgence with Pokémon GO, which made plenty of people go outside and exercise more, while also finding a way to make new friends through the new digital age. Finding Dory warmed our hearts after a 13-year drought without our oceanic friends.
Thanks to the Ice Bucket Challenge (remember that?), the gene responsible for ALS has been found, meaning we are closer to a real treatment. 500 elephants were relocated to a better and safer home. Death by heart disease has decreased by 70% in the United States and keeps going down. Color-blind people have seen color for the first time thanks to new specially designed glasses.
People have survived cancer. Families have grown. There’s a new Harry Potter book, and we have Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, as well as four other movies in the saga (Harry Potter will never die).
And there are of course the good things that have nothing to do with this year, but have always existed such as family, love, kissing, music, friends, religion, hope, puppies and kittens. Also pizza and Chocolate.
All jokes aside, in 2016 some bad stuff happened. You took away icons that millions of people looked up to. You had terrible and tragic events. But that doesn’t take away the good stuff you have done as well. Even if we have been burned down from anything that has happened to us, we have risen, and will continue to rise from the ashes of anything bad, just as we always do.
This world is ever growing and we need to find the ability to change with it and find a way to help. 2016, you were good and bad in a lot of ways, but I can’t deny the fact that you have made me a better and stronger person, as I’m sure you have for a lot of other people as well.
Goodbye to you, and here’s to 2017. Let’s make this year a good one.
Sincerely,
A Hopeful Civilian