Dear 2016,

People are really, really angry with you, in case you didn’t know. And to be fair, you’ve done a lot of bad stuff.

I mean, did you have to take our R2-D2 and our Princess Leia both? And don’t even get me started on Alan Rickman. It was just one big slap in the childhood after another.

And your political decisions weren’t stellar either. #Brexit? Really? Not to mention the absolute farce that was the American 2016 presidential election. Things in the Middle East got worse, not better, and terrorist attacks plagued everywhere from here in the US to Germany to Syria and beyond.

We saw some pretty crappy movies come out this year (Allegiant, I’m looking at you) and of course I would be remiss if I didn’t at least mention the Harambe fiasco.

So, yeah, it’s been rough.

But I think people give you an unfair amount of crap. Bad things happen every year. Granted, you may have laid it on a little thick, but the year was never gonna be all perfect anyways. And why does nobody ever mention all the good things that happened this year?

You saved the manatees, and the tigers, and the pandas.

The unemployment rate in the US fell, and the high school graduation rate rose.

A new Harry Potter movie and a stage play came out, and reignited the magic in the hearts of millennials everywhere.

Movies like Zootopia and Moana broke down barriers in children’s film.

You made huge progress in life-saving Ebola, cancer, ALS, and HIV research.

Pope Francis kept on being the best, traveling all over the world spreading peaceful relations between the Vatican and everyone else.

The University of Louisville beat the University of Kentucky in basketball.

Strides were made towards putting life on Mars.

So you see, the year was scattered with amazing occurrences that bettered life for some or all people! Of course, I’m still looking forward to 2017, and hoping that it’ll clean up some of the messe you’ve made. But it’s not fair to write you off entirely as a waste.

Bad things happen every year. Good things happen every year. Thank you, 2016, for including some really great things along with all the terrible ones.

Sincerely,

An Optimistic Millennial