With the year winding down and coming to a close, we’re all going to get busy writing down our resolutions for the new year. In writing these goals for ourselves, it’s important to remember everything we learned this year. 2016 has been a wild ride for all of us, filled with harambe memes and political debates. It’s one thing to have personal goals for ourselves like working out more and drinking less. It’s a whole other thing to look at the world on a global scale and see what we have to work on next year.
1. Black Lives Matter
Whether you agree with the hashtag or not, the amount of black men killed at the hands of cops in recent years has been scary. We can’t forget the news reports or the Facebook videos. Even though this movement has caused a lot of debate, this movement and others like it are important to the betterment of our society. We have to be shown our failings so that we can change and make life better for everyone.
2. Expect the Unexpected
The majority of the country didn’t see Donald Trump winning the election, and yet he did. The majority of the world didn’t see the UK exiting the EU, but it happened. The cubs won the world series this year! Who saw that coming? We’ve got to learn to expect the opposite of what we think is going to happen in order to prepare for it. Instead of assuming, we have to ask the important what if questions. I’m not saying to prepare for the apocalypse or anything, but keep the long shot in mind.
3. Bigotry Will Always be a Thing
Even just in the last few months, the intolerance and prejudice in America has been baffling. It’s easy to forget that discrimination still exists when it isn’t in your face every day, but the news reports following Trump’s candidacy and subsequent election show it’s still very present in our world today. Even though we will always have to face the ignorance and intolerance of others, our advances towards equality don’t have to stagger. 2017 needs to be a year that follows 2016’s lead of marriage equality, but it must go several steps further. The fight for equality never stops, and it never should.
4. We Are Affecting Our Environment on a Huge Scale
This year we’ve seen some drastic temperature changes and seen the effects of our negligence towards the environment. The great barrier reef is dying and the bramble cay melomys have gone extinct because of human pollution. The Paris Agreement is a big step in the right direction, but there is still a lot of ground we need to cover in 2017 if we’re going to reduce pollution and increase conservation. If we can teach children to clean up and “leave it better than they found it,” we should be able to do the same with earth.
5. Never Give Up
Leonardo DiCaprio has been acting for decades, and finally won his first oscar this year. So in the new year, if you’re ever feeling like the world is just waiting to see you fail, remember: if leo can win an oscar, you can do anything you set your mind to.
