When I first read the title of the article, I immediately made a confused/annoyed face. “This is a dumbass title, of course years don’t kill people, no one actually believes that,” I thought. I decided to read the article before I jumped to any conclusions. The article started by talking about how US life expectancy is down for the first time in over 20 years, and how drug abuse was part of the blame for the premature deaths of artist George Michael and Carrie Fisher. While I did understand the point she was making, I had a couple of problems with the article. First, I thought that mentioning Fisher and Michael’s drug addictions so soon after their deaths was in poor taste, especially since their deaths weren’t directly connected to their drug use. I also thought that mentioning the few celebrities who died due to drug use undermined the dozens of other celebrity deaths that happened this year, most of which were unexpected. Lastly, I didn’t like that she criticized people for wanting 2016 to end. I think that getting on people who say that they can’t wait for 2016 to end is unnecessary.
Of course the 2016 itself isn’t the cause of tragedy, but the fact of the matter is that this year has been more difficult than most. Tragedy seemed to come in waves. Yes, there has been an unusually high number of celebrity deaths (3 this week alone), but that’s not the only reason people are clamoring for this year to end. At times it seemed impossible to find good news and any forms of optimism seemed to disappear.
Some people believe that 2016 wasn’t that bad, and the events that happen are just the natural progression of society. There were huge shifts politically and socially around the world, but all of these shifts were in the wrong direction. Do you really think it’s natural for the suicide rate in the LGBT community to spike after the election of a new president? Is it natural for a black father to give their preteen son an hour long lecture about what to do when confronted by a police officer? Is it natural for a parent to pray that their child isn’t bullied at school for their religious beliefs?
An entire unit of a history textbook can be dedicated to the events of his year alone, but here are some of the ones people might have forgotten:
- Brexit
- Mass shooting at an LGBT-friendly nightclub in Orlando, FL
- POCs being shot by the police (several within days of each other in July)
- Just gun control in general (or lack thereof)
- Zika virus
- Major terrorist attacks (especially in mid-2016)
- And lastly, FLINT, MICHIGAN STILL DOESN’T HAVE CLEAN WATER.
We took several steps backwards, and a new year can provide hope to finally move in the right direction. While the whole “new year, new me” thing is often BS, the new year can be used as a form of optimism for the future, and I don’t think there is anything wrong with that. 2017 means the start of new yearly statistics. Less hate crimes can be reported, there can be a decrease in drug use amongst teens, there could be less death due to gun violence; all of these things and more are possible due to a new year. So no, I don’t think that 2016 killed people, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with wanting this year die. Here’s to an amazing 2017.
