In a year that has been so divisive, hateful and sad, it’s no surprise that Donald Trump is our President-elect, we’re set to have a bleak, freezing winter and illness and death run rampant all over the world. To add insult to injury, it seems, 2016 took some of the most exciting and creative people from us. As the year draws to a close, it’s important to remember that love and beauty will always flourish, and who better to remind us than the greats who’ve left us.

It all started with David Bowie. Rock legend. Sex symbol. Cultural icon. The Starman influenced pop culture like no one else. His vocal performances were second to none, his fashion was out-of-this-world extraordinary and his persona embodied mystery, lust and all that is cool. With a career spanning over five decades, his music, movie performances and cigarette-smoking gender-bending beauty will live on forever.

“But I’ll be there for you

As the world falls down.”

-As The World Falls Down

Alan Rickman, an actor who played the most simultaneously heart-wrenching and honorable character in all of fiction, died just four days after David Bowie. Severus Snape was a character many of us were introduced to at a young age. We learned to hate him. We learned to root against him. But at the end of the Harry Potter saga, his selfless actions became apparent and the Rowling fans unanimously fell in love. Rickman’s performance over eight movies only proved to solidify our love of the character and our love of a truly great, hard-working and definitive actor.

“Dumbledore watched her fly away, and as her

silvery glow faded he turned back to Snape,

and his eyes were full of tears.
"After all this time?"
"Always," said Snape.”

-Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

As a Minnesotan, the tragic death of beloved musical genius Prince, hit close to home for me. The music of the guitar player-singer-actor-sex symbol provided the soundtracks to countless dancefloor jams and even more orgastic bedsheet waltzes. Even younger audiences couldn’t help but tap their flippers to the “Happy Feet” rendition of “Kiss.” While Paisley Park stands quietly in Chanhassen Minnesota without the purple man of the house to croon, his songs will never stop being catchy and his mustache will never stop being sexy.

"Whenever I feel like givin' up. Whenever my sunshine turns to rain.

Whenever my hopes and dreams are aimed in the wrong direction.

She's always there"

–She's Always in My Hair

Last is Gene Wilder. There’s not much more to say about a man whose best-known role was a selfless, misunderstood man whose job it was to bring sugary joy to the world. Not only did Gene Wilder bring Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka to splendid, colorful life, but he performed in classics like “Blazing Saddles,” “Young Frankenstein” and “Bonnie and Clyde.” Wilder, who was born just down the road in Milwaukee Wisconsin, eventually succumbed to the saddest of deaths, Alzheimer’s disease. Before he went to the great chocolate factory in the sky, though, he left us some words to remember.

“But Charlie, don’t forget what happened to the man

who suddenly got everything he always wanted…

He lived happily ever after.”

-Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory

In a time of blight and sadness, remember the people who made us sing—made us dance—made us laugh—though they may be gone, their message stays the same. We’d be doing them a great disservice if we let what’s been a catastrophically difficult year crush our spirit. Keep playing air guitar. Keep binge-watching movies. Keep kissing. Keep smiling. Their words, their work and their spirit hold something all of us can learn from.