Dear 2016,
You were supposed to be one of the best years of my life. 2016 was always a significant year in my head because one of my biggest lifetime milestones was arriving: my high school graduation. The Olympics, my first semester of college, and my first ever presidential election where I could vote were also things I was looking forward to. What could possibly go wrong?
Well…everything.
The latter half of my senior year was absolutely miserable. I was involved in legal issues, experienced my first ever break-up, and got rejected from my dream school. Almost everything I was looking forward to was tarnished—the US Women’s National Soccer Team didn’t even make it to the finals at the Olympics, I dislike the college I’m currently attending, and this election has been nothing but a nightmare.
But I’m not the only one who has experienced an abnormal amount of grief and suffering from you.
People all across social media have been expressing how awful 2016 has been for them. A hashtag #worstyearever was created on Twitter where everyone shared their feelings about this terrible, terrible year.
There is literally a petition on Change.org to end 2016 now and skip right to 2017.
2016, I should have known something was off when I learned that the Berenstein Bears are actually the “Berenstain Bears.” I am convinced that we have split off into an alternate universe where everything is wrong. What other explanation would there be for so many awful things happening in such a short amount of time?
Let me name a few of the horrific things that you have unfairly thrown our way in the past 11 months.
195 black men have been shot and killed by the police this year. Black men who were profiled as dangerous by the police for wearing a hoodie and having their hands in their pockets. Black men who had their hands up. Black men who were shot for nothing more than the color of their skin. The cops who shot them were protected—even the ones who were shown on recording shooting an unarmed man.
Thus, the Black Lives Matter movement has been more active and loud than ever. However, white people always needing to make things about themselves countered with the All Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter movements. Yes, Becky, obviously ALL lives matter…yours just aren’t the ones being threatened and gunned down every day for the color of your skin.
But apparently, the death of a gorilla is more important to the majority of America than the blatant racism against black Americans. On May 28 at the Cincinnati Zoo, a three-year-old boy fell into the gorilla enclosure, leading a zoo worker to shoot the famous Harambe. Yes, the death of a gorilla is tragic…apparently much more tragic than deaths of actual human beings! It’s November, nearly six months later, and people are still making Harambe jokes. I’ve heard “Dicks out for Harambe” too many times to count. 11,000 people wrote in Harambe on their election ballot.
It’s a gorilla. We could have just mourned its death and let it go. But, no, America is weird and had to make it into a meme and a higher priority than actual human lives.
But that's not all. On June 10, Christina Grimmie was shot and killed during a meet and greet in Florida after her concert. The shooter walked straight up to her and shot her in the face—she was a genuinely kind soul who died doing what she loved. She was barely 22 years old, yet her life was so unfairly stolen from her.
You didn’t give us a break after this, 2016. You didn’t even give us three days to properly mourn her death before you handed us more death and despair.
Two days later on June 12, the deadliest mass shooting in the history of America occurred at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. It was an act of hatred against both the LGBT and Latinx communities. 49 people dead. 53 people wounded.
The horrific death toll doesn’t end there. Almost exactly one month later on July 14, the town of Nice, France, was terrorized. A man drove a large cargo truck through a crowd on Bastille Day. 86 people died and 434 people were injured.
2016, you have filled our hearts with fear and sorrow. But you’ve also thrown one of the most controversial injustices of all time at us.
Brock Turner was tried for raping a woman in June. Though he was found guilty, Judge Aaron Persky only sentenced him to six months in jail due to his white, rich, male privilege. But he didn’t even serve the full sentence. Three months later, he was released early for “good behavior.”
The mere fact that rapists can get away due to their privilege was horrifying news for women all across the country. Many sexual assaults go unreported in fear of the perpetrator threatening them further or not getting an appropriate sentencing. The Brock Turner case set an appalling precedent, and further solidified this fear in women nationwide.
Perhaps the most terrifying things you have thrown at us were in the realm of politics. In June, 52 percent of the United Kingdom voted in favor of leaving the European Union. However, a majority of the “leave” voters were old and will not live to feel the negative effects of this major decision. Immediately following the solidification of the Brexit vote, the value of the European pound plummeted. UK leaving the EU caused mass outrage among the younger generations and fear when they realized the negative impacts of the vote.
After all of this, I thought that you were done. I thought that you would decide to be nice and calm down for November and December at the very least. Come on, 2016, it’s the holidays—let us live.
But still…you persisted.
You allowed Donald Trump to be elected as the 45th President of the United States.
The polls showed a completely different outcome. They forecasted Hillary winning by an easy landslide. None of us were going into November 8 with too much fear; there was no way that America could be so stupid to elect an inexperienced, racist, sexist, xenophobic, homophobic man, right?
As Donald Trump might say himself…. Wrong.
My heart dropped with every CNN update on the night of November 8. As soon as he won Florida and Pennsylvania, I knew it was over. I knew there was no hope. He might not have won the popular vote but that doesn’t matter here.
On November 8, hate won. And now nothing will ever be the same.
His supporters have already begun to get bolder following the results of this election. The simple act of him running allowed them to voice their bigoted opinions, and with him elected, it only validates them further.
Women, people of color, Muslims, and the LGBT community have already started to be attacked in public, both verbally and physically. The nation is now more divided than ever, and those who spout hate are filled with confidence and validation that they are allowed to be terrible people.
2016, look what you’ve done.
Look at the state of the world.
Are you happy? Are you pleased with the amount of pain, anger, fear, and despair that you have caused?
I’m not going to say that it’s not going to get worse because it can. I learned that the hard way too many times this year. You’ll find a way to make it worse. You always do.
All I ask is to please give us a break. Please. We’ve suffered enough.
If you insist on continuing to be cruel, then I beg 2017 to be kind.
2017, don’t be like your younger sibling. Be soft and forgiving. Heal our brokenness. Make right of all of the wrongs that have occurred this year.
I don’t think any of us can handle a repeat of you, 2016.
Sincerely,
A victim of 2016.
PS: Apparently this year is one second longer than expected…haven’t we suffered enough?
