2016 was a sad year, in fact, the worst year for a lot of us. My main reason for hating 2016 is that I lost my mom, the most precious part of my life, to cancer. She fought for 6 months, it was an awful procedure. Losing her is even worse.

But social media keeps saying that it was a bad year because of all the chaos caused and a lot of our favourite celebrities died. Many of them blame the year for it. Is it right to blame 2016 for this? Would a calendar year have so much power to make things worse?

There has been a lot of chaos. Donald Trump won the Presidential Election, the British voted to leave the EU, the massacre in Aleppo, killing of Harambe etc. Did the year cause of all these? I don't think so. Donald Trump won because people voted for him, 2016 didn't. Brexit happened because people voted for it, 2016 didn't. Many Syrians were killed because of the Syrian government, 2016 didn't kill them. Harambe was killed by certain people as the gorilla was just holding a 3-year-old boy who climbed into a gorilla enclosure. 2016 didn't kill Harambe.

A lot of celebrities passed away this year such as David Bowie, Alan Rickman, Harper Lee, Prince, Muhammad Ali, Christina Grimmie, Leonard Cohen, George Michael, Carrie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds etc. It is sad as we love and adore them, and they had to leave suddenly. But did 2016 kill these celebrities? I don't think so. David Bowie died of liver cancer, Alan Rickman died of cancer, Harper Lee died in her sleep and she was quite old, Prince died due to an overdose of fentanyl, Muhammad Ali died of septic shock, Christina Grimmie was shot by some deranged fan, Leonard Cohen died of cancer, George Michael died in his sleep, it is suspected that he died of heart failure, Carrie Fisher died of a heart attack, and Debbie Reynolds died of a broken heart. 2016 didn't kill these people.

There are two things I blame for all the things that have happened, and it is not 2016. One is we the people. It is us who has caused all the chaos. It's sad but true. If we could all learn to be loving and supportive towards ourselves and each other, then this wouldn't have happened. We could have still stopped Trump from winning, Brexit from happening, Syrians from being killed, Christina Grimmie and Harambe from being killed. So please stop hating, it would only make things worse, while love will bring wonders. Let's work towards being kinder and make 2017 a year for us.

Another thing is fate. People die every day, every year. It is not something that happens once in awhile. This is what happened with these celebrities too. They didn't die because of this year. They died because their time was up. God takes even babies when they have hardly lived their life. It is unfair. We don't know why God takes away people we love and adore when it brings us so much pain. But all I know is we can't stop fate. Maybe their time on earth was just that much, but their time on Earth was precious. They created a lot of impact on us. That's what matters. Same with these celebrities. They entertained us with their talent, and their purpose is done. Now they are gone. It is hard but it is their fate. Their time was up.

It is the same with my mom. She lived a short, yet wonderful life. In these 47 years, she made a huge impact on all of us. She was a wonderful mom, wife, daughter, musician, music teacher, autism specialist etc. It's sad that she had to battle cancer for 6 months, and that she had to lose, despite being strong and positive. It was fate that my mom had to go, 2016 doesn't have anything to do with her passing away. It is really tragic but this is the truth.

Yes, 2016 gave us a lot of disappointments. It is a sad year. But life is full of ups and downs. There are some years, which were memorable, then there were some years that weren't. We need to try our best to make things right, and leave the rest to God to decide. This is the sad truth!

So please don't blame 2016 for all the happenings. This is how life is, and it is unfair. We need to learn to accept it.

I hope 2017 is a much better year for all of us! Let's try our best to make this year much better! Let's be loving and kind human beings. If things don't work out, that means fate has some other plans.

Happy 2017! Bye Bye 2016!