If 2016 was the year of anything, it was the year of negativity.
Yeah, yeah, I get it. A lot of really famous people died. Prince, George Michael, David Bowie, Carrie Fisher, Alan Rickman, Gene Wilder, the list of icons that 2016 took goes on. As sad as that is, according to Ecology.com, an average of 55.3 million people die every year. The only difference between this year and last year is some of the people who died were more well known. Using celebrity deaths to glorify your "worst year ever" mindset is disappointing and quite frankly, a bit disgusting. Have we forgotten 2009, where we lost Michael Jackson, Billy Mays, Patrick Swayze, Bea Arthur, Farrah Fawcett, Brittany Murphy, the Taco Bell chihuahua, and so many others? Guess what!? We survived 2009 just fine.
Let's go over some other reasons why millennials say that 2016 sucked. Let's start with our President-elect, Mr. Donald J. Trump. Sure, he's not the brightest person. Even some of his own supporters agree with that. However, people are irrationally afraid. Let's say hes a racist, misogynistic, egotistical, narcissistic asshole who wants to build the Great Wall of America and start World War 3. Guess what? He can't do all of that by himself. There's this fantastic thing called "checks and balances" that makes sure that things like that don't happen by the decisions of one person. HE CAN'T DO IT HIMSELF. I understand that complaining about how terribly those things would affect you helps you cope, but it's time to look at the facts. I, myself, did not vote for Trump. However, it is not logical to be deathly afraid of him being in office. A lot has changed since the election. Maybe, just maybe, it won't be so bad. But, complaining about it all over your social media will really change the outcome, so continuing that should change the election in no time!
Another thing we should bring up is Harambe. If you aren't familiar with Harambe, Harambe was a gorilla who lived at the Cincinnati Zoo. He was shot to death after a small child fell into his enclosure. This was a HUGE thing when it happened. The parents were at fault for not paying attention to their child, the gorilla was trying to kill the child, the gorilla was trying to protect the child, the Cincinnati Zoo is full of murderers... I think you get my point. Harambe was a GORILLA. Whether you like it or not, that three year old child was in danger. If I were the parent of that three year old, I would want the gorilla shot too. Anything to save my child. As tragic as the death of Harambe was, his memory will live on forever in our hearts...and our memes. It's time to stop using it as a crutch to support why we think 2016 was so terrible.
Police brutality. Two words that can spark up a conversation in a room in seconds, and most likely a heated one. Let's get down to the basics. There were some police officers this year that were really horrible at their job. Instead of protecting people, they killed and beat people. Now, let's get down to the facts. All people matter. I don't care if you're white, black, blue, pink, straight, LGBTQ, etc. YOU MATTER. And yeah, there were some crappy cops who didn't do their jobs. Well guess what? There are teachers who are really bad at their jobs. There are government officials who are really bad at their jobs. There are parents who are really bad at being parents. That does NOT mean that all teachers, government officials, and parents suck. ALL COPS DO NOT SUCK. So stop victimizing yourself if it has absolutely nothing to do with you. Sucky people affect all genders, races, and sexualities. But if you're using this as another reason to complain about 2016, do everyone a favor and stop.
America obviously wasn't the only one who had things thrown at them this year. For example, Brexit in the U.K., the Zika outbreak in Brazil, the attack on Nice, France, the attacks on Syria and Iraq, all of the happenings in Germany, the list goes on. We certainly aren't alone in the fact that we've all gone through some shit in the past 365 days. But, let's look at a list of some of the good things that happened this year.
1. Ebola has officially been eradicated from West Africa. (Quartz)
2. There are almost 4,000 tigers alive today, compared to just over 3,000 back in 2010. (PBS)
3. Green sea turtles in Mexico and Florida were removed from the endangered species list. (Huffington Post)
4. Harriet Tubman is going to be on the $20 bill. (PBS)
5. Team USA dominated the Olympics, especially our women of color. (PBS)
6. The unemployment rate is down to about 4.9%, and hasn't been that low since 2007. (Trading Economics)
7. The Chicago Cubs won the MLB World Series after a 108 year drought. (Wall Street Journal)
8. 83 percent of students earned their high school diplomas, a record high. (PBS)
9. The internet has been graced with hundreds of new, refreshing memes to entertain the millennials of today.
10. "Finding Dory" was released, ending our 13 year wait for the "Finding Nemo" sequel.
If I can find 10 super fantastic things that happened in 2016, so can you. Wanna know how to make 2017 better than 2016 was? It's simple — leave your negativity, complaining, and narcissism in 2016.
From one millennial to another, Happy New Year!
