It is fair to say that as the years pass us by and we become more cognizant of the injustices in the world, our faith that things will improve continually chips away until we are left in a Holden Caulfield-esque state of wistfulness. We long for the days when we were young and our friends and family did not bring up politics at every gathering, or the times when we could reasonably tune out of conversations that were out of depths, and not worry about being judged for our lack of knowledge or understanding.
Personally, what I miss the most is the passion that I used to have to debate social and political issues. Now, I still have the same passion and beliefs that I once was eager to discuss. However, I find myself less enthusiastic to argue what seems more fundamental, and something that should not need to be argued at all. As we continue to move through 2017, and rapidly approach the end of the year, these injustices seem more real than ever and although they do not appear to be improving. Nonetheless, we should not give up on the year, and instead should try and focus on the positive things that have happened this year, and hope for more to come.
1. People have come together for major causes.
Systemic, internalized and blatant discrimination still occur in the world. However, in 2017 we saw women from all around the world come together to participate in marches for equality. In January, the Women’s Marches became the biggest protest in U.S. history, estimating at 2.9 million people involved.
2. Same-sex marriage takes strides, despite LGBTQ community setbacks.
transgender students' chosen pronouns, the City Council of Columbus approves legislation that prohibits the use of conversion therapy on minors and what is referred to as a “historic vote” occurs in Germany when the parliament passes a bill that legalizes same-sex marriage and grants homosexual couples full adoption rights.
3. London stood strong and united.
The beautiful city of London that I called home for four and a half months has felt the threat of terrorism on one too many occasions. It is not the only city in the U.K., or the world, that has encountered these pressures. However, despite what seemed like one assault on freedom after the next, Britons stood with their heads held high and kept going about their days as planned.
4. New York City commuters showed the love trumps hate, always.
When commuters noticed antisemitic graffiti and Nazi symbols on the wall of a subway car, they took action together to remove it with the help of some hand sanitizer. It was another instance of people coming together to condemn what was yet another instance of prejudice, shortly following the 2016 Presidential Election.
5. One Love Manchester, with the help of Ariana Grande, brought the world together through music.
Following the horrific and heartbreaking violence during Grande’s concert in Manchester earlier in the summer, she and other artists came together to raise money for relief. Together, they brought people of all walks of life into one venue, and touched the hearts of millions who were watching proudly from around the world.
What all of these moments or events have in common with one another is that they came out of great adversity and sought to mend the divisions that we see in our societies. It is easy to look at them all and say that we would prefer for them to never happen or exist in the first place so that we would not have to take action to right these wrongs, and I would agree with the sentiments. Unfortunately, we do not live in a perfect world, though, and we have to make-do. When the going has gotten tough in 2017, we have seen that people can come together to make wonderful things happen and offer tremendous support. So, as we keep moving forward in the remaining months of 2017, we should not completely give up hope that it will improve. You may be pleasantly surprised by how resilient people are under the most trying circumstances.