2016 has been a bad year.

Perhaps, many will agree with this statement. But some, I'm sure, will not.

I'd like to say I'm neutral on the whole thing, and in some ways I am, but I can't deny, a lot went wrong this year.

Years are so long, and so much happens, that it's hard to say what's a good year and what's a bad one. But in this particular case, the bad stuff stands out.

I'm sad for the celebrities that died and the tragedy that has consumed the entire world.

I'm confused for the future of America, and I'm worried about the aftermath of Brexit.

I'm worried about the glass ceiling that still exists. And I'm worried for the Muslim community, about which I should learn more.

I'm sad that my grandmother probably will not get to see a female president. And I'm sad that I don't know if I will either.

We have not gotten closer to solving the refugee crisis, and so for that, I am also concerned. There are innocent people in need of aid that they won't receive. There are families being separated by violence and children dying of disease. The world is just now hearing of the crisis in Aleppo, which been occurring for five years, but is part of a larger problem that has been going on for much longer.

I'm sad that the world changed in the way that it did. I believe not that the world has regressed, but rather, that it has divided. It's harder to define the majorities now.

On a much lighter note, people were upset about "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child," just because they liked the way the original book series ended. People were sad that their favorite TV shows like "The Good Wife" and "Switched at Birth" ended.

They were sad for Harambe the Gorilla, and for the Star Wars and Harry Potter communities.

I'll personally miss David Bowie and George Michael and Leonard Cohen. My parents are fans of theirs, and believe it or not, I have at least one song by each of them on my Spotify playlist. "Heroes," "Cowboys and Angels," and "Hallelujah."

But when I feel annoyed about more trivial things, I feel disgusted with myself—that I know more about them than of the crime and hatred that has overtaken the world.

The other day I was going through some 2016 memes—those criticizing the year, those #rip[ping] it, and those bidding it good riddance. I read a few of them to my mother. We laughed.

There was one asking 2016 to give back Harambe and Carrie Fisher in exchange for Kim and Kanye. There was one saying that no one is saying, "2017 will be my year" because 2016 has humbled us all.

But the more I considered these memes (these hundreds of thousands of cultural devices that reach millions each day), the more I realized that the many people making them and sharing them, myself included, are not actually affected by some of the greater conflicts to which they point.

After I read a few aloud to my mom, she told me to stop.

Who knows what next year will bring, she said. Just be thankful for what is.

Everyone knows this, of course.

We get too entranced in the pop culture of it all, the excitement. It's easy to go back and find the things that went wrong with your life this year. It's even easier to find the things that went wrong in the world.

But maybe we shouldn't.

It's been a roller coaster, perhaps. But it's not stopping anytime soon. It will continue, whether we like it or not. And we should be thankful each day that we are able to begin anew, and perhaps, even make a difference in the future. We have another chance to start over.

So RIP 2016—it's been interesting— but we must keep moving.