2016 has come and gone and, despite it all, we are still here. The Zika virus spreading, North Korea's test of a nuclear bomb, Hurricane Matthew, the election, and that's only a few things that we endured this year. Each of these events rocked our entire world, gripping many with fear of the aftermath. Heck, some are still fearing the aftermath of what has happened. All these things have put a stress on all of our psyches, filling us with fear and worry. Fear for the future and worry over how it will affect us. With all of these things happening, it's a wonder how we remained sane through it all, and that's not even taking into account all of the deaths that happened this year.
David Bowie, Muhammad Ali, Debbie Reynolds, Florence Henderson, Alan Thicke, Gene Wilder, Anton Yelchin, Lisa Lynn Masters, Alan Rickman, Ricky Harris, Christina Grimmie, Doris Roberts, Gary Marshall, Nancy Reagan, Keo Woolford, Frank Sinatra Jr., Tommy Ford, Harper Lee, Prince, Kenny Baker, Ron Glass, Peter Vaughan, Joseph Mascolo, Maurice White, Carrie Fisher.
These are only a few of the people that have passed this year. Each and everyone of those aforementioned people have lightened our lives in some way, shape, or form through their contributions in music, acting, or anything in between. We all felt a sense of loss with their deaths and this proved to further our enmity and trepidation for the year. All of these events weighed down on our minds and made it hard to look on the bright side of things, but we should remember that there were good things that happened this year.
Many may have died, but if you're reading this article, then you survived. You survived this year and no matter how hellish it was for you, you persevered and made it to the new year. While many have been through varying degrees of suffering and pain, we were still able to endure it all and enter into the new year, guns blazing.
If we were able to get through 2016, then we can get through 2017. In 2016 we have proved that we can face hardship and come out on top. If we can pull through deaths, disease, natural disasters, and brutal elections, then we can pull through almost everything. It is time to leave 2016 behind and move towards the future with our heads held high. While things have been less than desirable this past year, we cannot let those events define how things will be in 2017. That being said, we should not forget the pain and hardship that we faced this past year. For it is those hardships that have proved how strong we really are.
