2016 has passed and 2017 is upon us. Soon college students will be back (or are back) in our respective institutions taking our spring semester classes and keeping our fingers crossed that spring break comes soon, and summer somehow comes sooner. One underlying tone from the celebrations of New Years and discussion throughout December of last year was that everything was going horribly. Not only had many beloved celebrities died, but Donald Trump was elected as President. For many younger Americans and progressives, including Senator Bernie Sanders, this spelt division "by race, nationality, gender and sexual orientation." The Republicans gained a majority in the House and Senate, and as a result of this the country would allegedly and inevitably be going back towards regressive policies regarding LGBT rights and open door policies. Quite a scary picture was and is being painted which is partially true, but also willfully ignorant in some ways. The list goes on with unresolved and looming issues such as college debt, xenophobia, extreme nationalism, immigration, and the future of U.S. foreign policy regarding Trump's demeanor and reputation abroad. Many cried out that the sexism and racism of the United States could no longer be hidden in the fact that Trump was elected as a symbol of hatred going so far as to call the United States a now Fascist Dictatorship.
In reaction to this sentiment regarding the election, and the entire year of 2016, it might be appropriate to point out how much worse things are occurring on a daily basis around the world, and that the U.S. Presidential Election, while influential, is not world ending or "fascist" in any sense of the word. While people are dying of war, famine, disease, and terror attacks all over the world, it is a bit trivial to cry about the outcome of the election. It is immature and ridiculous to send death threats to the president, call for a race war, or isolate yourself entirely from society. To those who reacted like this, which included many celebrities such as Laci Green, Katy Perry, and Steven King, it is ridiculous to encourage and condone such type of behavior no matter emotionally distraught you are in the moment about the results of an election. What is most amazing to me is the amount of horror that can be woven into a person who has not even been given the chance to govern yet. While his character can be judged based off of his past actions and experiences and in small part through his tweets, to call for a race war is calling for something worse than anything Trump has done in his past.
Personally, I don't like to play the card of relative suffering to people's points of view, where one side points out that there is always someone worse off than you in the world, or that worse things have happened throughout history. It does give perspective, but it doesn't do anything other than attempt to silence the opposition via guilt. I prefer the path of looking at more positive facts and results if at all possible because it directly shows that the world is not as terrible off as many believe it to be. Here are 10 uplifting pieces of news that happened in 2016:
- World hunger is the lowest it's been in 25 years. This trend is likely to continue. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/09/opinion/is-the-e...
- There are half as many homeless veterans as there were 20 years ago. In 2016, there was a 20% drop. http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/veteran-homelessnes...
- Major diseases such as heart disease, osteoporosis, dementia, and colon cancer on the decline. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/10/upshot/a-medical...
- The Civil War in Colombia has come to a lasting resolution. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-381539...
- Sri Lanka is malaria free http://www.searo.who.int/mediacentre/releases/2016...
- The Antarctic ozone layer is healing thanks to global cooperation http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/01/health/antarctic-ozo...
- China announced a ban on new coal mines, targeting to increase renewable energy sources by 2020. http://www.wri.org/blog/2016/04/chinas-1-2-3-punch...
- Teen Birth Rates are lower than ever, while graduation rates have never been higher. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/teen-birthrate-reac...
- Measles has been eradicated from the Americas. http://www.theatlantic.com/news/archive/2016/09/me...
- Bill Gates (The Gates Foundation) announced another 5 billion towards eradicating poverty and disease in Africa. http://www.africanews.com/2016/07/18/bill-gates-to...
So despite a disappointing election for many, paired with losing many beloved cultural icons such as David Bowie, Carrie Fisher, and Edgar Mitchell, there are many things in the world worthy of reflecting positively upon for 2016 which give us hope for the future. And before you say anything, I am an avid Saint Louis Cardinals fan and will not acknowledge the Cubs winning the World Series as a positive. But you may, if you'd like.
Source for graphs:
