To the New Year,

Hey 2017! I know the year just started, but there is so much to talk about, regarding last year.

Last year was 2016, the chapter that most people labeled to be the worst year yet. You know why? It's the year where people forgot that love actually exists. That there is more to life than what is on the news, being covered by every news outlet all over the nation. What a concept, right? It's not being idealistic. It's being realistic, because I'm surprised that people think they know what love is in this day and age.

Don't get me wrong...I'm not criticizing you, New Year. In fact, I feel you need to be vocal this year, louder in a sense that the important points in life are heard without people straining to listen or not listening at all. As one of many reflecting on last year and also focusing on this year, this concept will be proven difficult at times, but also a chance to make a change for the better. By better, I mean showing people that life is what it is and how we as individuals make it the way we do. These things don't just happen overnight or we wake up one day with a suddenly renewed mind. No, we make those decisions ourselves, which leads to either 'for better' or 'for worse.'

You can guess which path we, as the United States people, chose in 2016: for worse. You wouldn't believe it, but it's true. We went downhill, because the main issue was that people thought their political views mattered more than people themselves. Don't you see how stupid that is? For a society that promotes the self, it seems reasonable. In reality, it's not. If anyone wanted to hit a self destruct button, us Americans were the ones to do so. We can point fingers at each other, blame each other for the candidates we have in office, the violence that's erupted, countless lives lost...but when we look at it, the finger is pointing right back at ourselves. We did this to ourselves and I'm not sorry to say 'I told you so.' People are being overly radical, New Year. Overly radical, in over their heads, marching to the beat of their own drum, think they are better than everyone else, what have you. It's time to reign them back in and show them what really matters.

New Year, bring on the positives and negatives. Bring on the mountains and valleys. Bring on the highs and lows. Every year has them, that's the truth. 2016 was not the worst year ever as people claim. You didn't want it that way, but people made it seem that way by their decisions, decisions they made without thinking about more than one way to get to the same answer. We have a chance to make you, New Year 2017, right. We need you to challenge us with difficulties, but bring us down to earth with joyfulness and thankfulness. We need you to divide us, so when we see walls being put up, we can knock them down with unity and love.

Here's to the next chapter, finding our way back home to where we were before last year.

Sincerely,

One of the many hopeful people in this world