Dear 2016,

You were the worst. Within just 365 days, we experienced a plethora of tragic events, and by no means were we ready for them. In 2016, we lost iconic celebrities like Gene Wilder, Prince, David Bowie, Alan Rickman, and Carrie Fisher. We experienced major traumas, like the mass shooting that occurred in Orlando, FL at Pulse nightclub. Plenty of natural disasters, like the California wildfires, happened and resulted in panicked citizens and damaged areas. Major political twists and problems with governments occurred. 2016, you truly wanted us to suffer this year, didn't you? You will certainly not be missed.

After all of these horrible incidents, I can't help but be pessimistic about 2017. While, yes, I do believe that 2017 can and (I'm praying will) be better than this past year, there is the slightest bit of me that believes that something horrible is bound to occur. I'm frightened to think that we will experience another devastating year, but I have to remember to be positive about this whole "life" thing.

Although 2016 gave us some of the worst events in the history of ever, there were some good events that came out of it as well. The Cubs won the world series for the first time in 108 years, the ice bucket challenge promoted enough awareness for ALS to discover what gene causes ALS exactly, ultimately getting researchers closer to a cure, the Ozone layer is slowly repairing itself, Leonardo DiCaprio won a freaking Oscar, incredible films were produced, musical breakthroughs were made, and a variety of endangered animals are growing in numbers.

There are plenty of things that went wrong in 2016, but there are also plenty of things that should fill us with joy. I'm sure that out of all of the things that happened to you personally this year, at least one of those things is good. 2017, you don't really have a lot to live up to, but please be good to us. The world needs it.