There are a lot of people claiming that 2016 is a terrible year. I suppose I can get why they feel that way. In some cases it had some pretty low moments. Without doing too much research into the bleakness that is previous years, I wonder if it's roughly just another average year with ups and downs. The thing is that 2016 probably means a lot of different things to different people. For me it will always be a great year because my daughter came on the scene right near the beginning and she's pretty much set the tone for me ever since. With that said, almost right after she was born I lost an old friend very suddenly. I had no idea that the weird dichotomy of joy and sadness would pretty much be how I'd end up describing the year.
We may as well talk about the election. I've kept my opinion offline because honestly the internet really doesn't need yet another extreme view, which only serves to further divide people. That's the part that makes me sad. I've never been a very political person to start with so maybe I've been blind to this kind of divisiveness in elections and politics in general. Like some kind of idealistic fool, I always thought that the things that divided us were smaller than the things that brought us together. And while I initially wasn't a fan of our current President, I eventually came to the conclusion that he was trying to do good, even if he wasn't always successful. For the most part my life in the last eight years hasn't really changed all that much because of anything he or any other elected official was doing. Apparently that can be seen as being wrapped up in my own little white blanket of privilege. Because even though I've worked hard for what I have, there have always been advantages that I've taken for granted, blissfully unaware of many people out in my country who struggle every day in a system that seems to be actively working against them. A lot of those people see the President as someone who doesn't represent or care about them. And this is one of the many reasons why the election results came as such a shock to someone like me.
I live in a pretty liberal state and a very liberal city. It's the kind of place where people are well off enough that they can be concerned about the name of the cow that supplied the steaks in the artisan butcher shop next to their favorite organic juice bar. People tend to be socially conscious of the world and while I don't know if there is a lot of actual activism, there is at least perceived activism about issues. Granted, like many Americans, we have a very short attention span and move on quickly to the next moral outrage or internet meme that is trending today. So many of us gathered around our cable-free televisions to watch what was going to be an obvious victory for the seemingly obvious choice to run the country. When it became obvious that things were going in a different direction I, like many others, were trying to figure out how it was possible? How could this have blindsided me, when 24 hours before I would have been pretty confident that we'd have our first female President. I hadn't taken into account the sheer amount of hatred for the Democratic candidate. She was a politician and their very nature means they are going to do some shady things, but somehow she had managed to have normal people foaming at the mouth when they would even say her name. There had always been a part of me that wanted to sit down with some of these people and get a real accounting of what it was they disliked about her. By now, the term 'echo chamber' has been tossed around a lot and it makes sense. We tend to surround ourselves with comfortable things and that includes information. If someone or something challenges our ideas or beliefs, it's natural to shy away from that. Toss is some good old fashion misinformation (or propaganda) and you've got millions of people who believe something that isn't always based on fact. Or worse, based on a portion of fact, that has been isolated to prove their point. Somewhere along the way we start to villainize people who disagree with us. Social media was full of people who were saying not only did they disagree with the other side, but the other side was now bordering on evil, stupid, or brainwashed. I found myself even falling into the trap of taking my disagreement on one thing and making it seem as though I was fundamentally opposed to these other people, who may as well been aliens because their beliefs were so different from mine. I'm sure there are some truly awful people out there. People who are excited to see hatred making a comeback. Maybe it stems from fear or jealousy or ignorance. Maybe it's simple greed. I don't know at this point. I would have thought in 2016 that pettiness and racism would be something we talk about as a thing of the past. If not the past, then something that was getting better. If anything, this year has made me wonder is the world really as good as I thought it was. Then again, maybe that's what certain people want. They want you to be afraid. Afraid of the people around you that aren't on your side. If you're not with us, then you're against us? One has to ask, who benefits from us being afraid and hating those who are different from us?
As we close out this year, it feels like the nation is divided more than it's been in recent history. Or maybe it just feels that way because I started paying attention. There is a whole group of people in our country who have felt left behind. I've been very fortunate to not know what that is like. I don't know if those same people felt that the Republican candidate was the best candidate, but it was the one that they got. The alternative being more of a government that wasn't listening to them. In the end there was a massive shift from the status quo, which is how things tend to go after eight years with one party running the show. People were bound to be upset either way, but now it seems to go beyond that where the winning side is taking victory laps and the losing side, still in disbelief, is doing anything it can to halt the inevitable reality that is coming in 2017. It feels like a fight with a loved one. Lots of things were said and done. It seems like everyone now has this emotional bruise that's still tender. I don't know how long it will last with people still holding their animosity towards each other. Maybe like many things for our country, it too will pass. At least right now it seems to be the capstone on a year that felt a bit bleak.
So as I think about this year, I have to remind myself that there has been some pretty great things as well. The Cubs broke a 100+ year streak to finally win the World Series, giving the people of Chicago something to cheer about. Our good friends had adorable babies, that will hopefully become friends with my daughter as they grow to be adorable together. A private company, headed by the closest thing to Tony Stark, has successfully landed a rocket vertically, getting us one step closer to leaving Earth. Doctors and scientists have created cybernetic implants that helped a man move his fingers for the first time. Stem cells have been injected into stroke patients allowing them to walk again. Someone with a lot of time on their hands discovered a new prime number, although I don't know how that helps us, but it's more to prove that we can keep finding new things, even when we think we've seen it all. By the way, they've confirmed (again) that there is a ninth planet in our solar system. I remember growing up with Planet X as a possibility so it's good to know that we've got people staring out into the cosmos and seeing things that have been hiding from us for longer than we know. And finally, we got a new Star Wars movie. Being the same age as Star Wars, I will always be thankful that I get to go back to that galaxy far, far away and see if the good guys and overcome impossible odds to save the day. Maybe with the perspective of time, we'll all look back at 2016 as just another strange year in a long weird journey. I'm excited to see what happens in 2017.
