2016 has been a roller coaster of peculiar events. I mean, let's be honest with ourselves. We've all noticed that it just seems to be one thing after another this year. Unusual events, celebrity deaths, the bees disappearing, Leonardo DiCaprio finally winning an oscar. When thought about all together, it seems odd, right?
Well, to put it in perspective, let's consider everything that has happened this year.
Okay, first off, on January 28, the World Health Organization announced an outbreak of Zika, a virus that can be spread both through mosquito bites and by sex. Historically this disease has primarily been contained in areas on the equator between Asia and Africa, however it has spread to South America, Central America, the Caribbean and North America. The locations of this outbreak of course caused concern, especially when it came to the potentiality of a crisis in Rio de Janerio, Brazil, during the 2016 Summer Olympics. Since the symptoms of this disease do not always show themselves, there was worry that the traveling athletes, family, couches, and fans would pick up the disease and bring it back to their home countries. The worry about this virus continued after this, however in November, WHO announced that Zika was no longer a threat.
Alright, on to the next. The Chicago cubs won the World Series for the first time in 108 years (the last time was 1908 and the only time before that was 1907). Yeah, sure it's about time and they deserve a chance in the lime light yada yada yada, but why this year? I mean, why has 2016 chosen to be the year of the Cubs? The Billy Goat curse has been broken. When considering the rest of 2016's features, it just seems like interesting timing.
Another big event would be the fact that Donald Trump won the United States presidency and the country flipped. I'm not here to give my political opinion one way or another, but I do find it fascinating to see how violently split the United States was over this election, which just happens to be the first election that I had the ability to vote in. When Trump won, people felt scared of what might happen and some people are still worried. Like I said, not here to give my political opinion, but no one should have to be scared of their elected government official and it really crushes me that some people are. Fingers crossed, though, that Trump does alright.
Another set of instances that seem to be prominent this year are celebrity / notable persons deaths. I'll give you an incomplete list, and its still a long one: David Bowie, Alan Rickman, Nancy Reagan, Doris Roberts, Patty Duke, Prince, Mohamed Ali, Anton Yelchin, Gary Marshall, Gene Wilder, Arnold Palmer, Florence Henderson, Fidel Castro, Alan Thicke, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Alan Young, George Michael, and Carrie Fisher are among the not so few. We have lost many people this year, and these are some that were in the public eye.
However, celebrity deaths aren't the only ones we've suffered in 2016. This year was the first year that I have had a friend pass away. While this friend and I had drifted apart, it hit me hard. One thing that I really hate about the world that we are currently living in is that news such as this has to be found out via Facebook. I got on the morning after her passing and couldn't believe what I was seeing. I cried for an hour. Then, I got up, got in the shower and cried some more. My heart broke for her family and closer friends. This was the definition of terrible.
Many bad, good, weird, and untimely things happened this year. I'll list a few more that I didn't talk about in detail such as on February 8 North Korea launched a rocket into space, and by doing so, violated multiple UN treaties, the three bombings happening in Brussels, Belgium killing at least 32 people and injuring at least 250 on March 22, EgyptAir Flight 804 crashing with 66 people aboard on May 19, the United Kingdom voting in referendum to leave the European Union on June 23, NASA's Juno spacecraft entering orbit around Jupiter and beginning it's 20 month survey of the planet on July 4, the Malaysia Arline Flight 17's investigation concluding that it was shot down by a Buk Missile that came from an area under control by pro-Russian rebels on September 28.
It's been quite a year. However, like I said before, there are some occurrences that happened that just seem a little off. Like, why did the Cubs win this year, why did Trump win this year, what is happening to the bees? (Okay, well this can be attributed to pesticides). I just find it so interesting how the internet is taking notice of 2016 being an overall craptastic year. Several outlandish theories are out there as to why, mine being that someone went back in time and killed someone who wasn't supposed to die then or left someone alive who was supposed to die. Who knows?
All in all, 2016 has not been great by any standards and cheers to 2017 hopefully being better.
