I'm just gonna say it: 2016 was NOT the best year. A lot of really negative events have occurred, and, to be honest, I'm getting really sick of it. I'm counting down the days until I can say that 2016 is over and we have officially moved on.
Let's take a look at all the horrific events that have happened this year:
1. Death had a little too much fun
I'm not the type of person to get upset over people who I don't really know passing away. Yes, I feel sad, but I don't mourn or anything.
This year, I mourned.
We lost Alan Rickman, a.k.a. Severus Snape, the antagonist-turned-protagonist from theHarry Potter series.
We lost Carrie Fischer just recently, the gorgeous Princess Leia from Star Wars .
We lost the incredible, the powerful, Muhammad Ali.
We lost the original candy man from Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,Gene Wilder .
We lost music icons Prince, David Bowie, and George Michael, and we know that music won't be the same again.
In fact, the complete list of important people we lost this year is immense and incredibly hard to read.
Here's to hoping that 2017 is better and filled with more celebration of birth than of death.
2. Destruction and displacement
The destruction that has occurred this year has been beyond imaginable.
The United States dealt with the shooting at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida, effectively killing 49 people and injuring 53 others.
In France during the celebration of Bastille Day, a truck drove through crowds, killing 86, injuring 434, and ruining a beloved holiday.
In March, 3 different bombs went off in the city of Brussels. In the end, 3 of the terrorists were killed, along with 32 civilians. Over 300 other individuals were wounded.
The city of Aleppo has been the center of multiple attacks and destruction, with thousands of people dying, becoming injured, and being displaced. The city is still facing horrible damage and destruction, and it doesn't look like its going to stop anytime soon. Unless people start paying attention to what is going on in the city, it isn't going to get better.
Unfortunately, while all of these attacks are horrific, this isn't even close to the full list of terror attacks across the globe. In fact, the list is so lengthy and long that Wikipedia actually has to break the list down into what month the attack occurred. The full list of attacks can be found here.
3. Global warming
Trends can either be good or bad, right? Well, in the case of global warming, these trends are really, really, REALLY bad.
I wish I could say I was joking but....
Each month for the first six months of 2016 set a record for the warmest respective month globally since the 1800's when the temperatures began being recorded.
Additionally, the amount of ice seen in the Artic is significantly lower than what it should be and has been for decades.
And these are just the stats just for the first half of 2016.
The last 6 months proved to be the exact same. It is a fact that this year has been the hottest year on record. Additionally, with the melting Artic ice, it's a shock that people are still denying global warming and climate change.
Let's hope that 2017 turns out differently.
4. Politics
I don't even know where to start with this one.
If you were a Hilary Clinton fan, you had to watch as the media slandered her, she went through hell and back, finally won the popular vote , and yet STILL lost the election to Donald Trump. If only the FBI hadn't released those emails....
If you were a Donald Trump fan, you had to deal with the harassment that came for voting for him.
If you were a Gary Johnson fan, you got to facepalm as he didn't know what the city of Aleppo was (go back to my previous comment about people need to start paying attention, please), got to watch as he made odd faces at a reporter, and got excluded from the debates. However, at least he won some of the votes, right?
If you were a Jill Stein supporter, you watched as she barely got media coverage, had to fight to get her name out there, and then still only win some of the votes in each state.
2016 was not a good year, y'all.
Here's to hoping that 2017 is better.