2016: Enough Said

                There’s a difference between an event that makes you remember certain things about that day and last year. The events only take a few moments to happen but they stay with you the rest of your life and this year was like an event but with never ending moments. The year 2016 was an exhausting psychotic episode full of death, frustration and violence. From the endless round of celebrity deaths, a war between colors that matter and an election based on bigotry and corruption that has only lead to a divided nation. It’s been one of those years that makes you ask, “What happened to us in 2016?”

                Let’s start with celebrity deaths; about half my childhood died this year with the passing of icons like Prince, David Bowie, Alan Rickman and so on. Nobody seemed safe from start to finish, even when we were approaching the goal line. The biggest heartbreak came recently with the passing of music Icon George Michael who passed away Christmas day, then Hollywood legends Carrie Fisher then her mother just shortly after. It got to the point where people were wondering if celebrities should start heading for their bunkers. Celebrities weren’t the only ones that left us too early, there were victims and heroes.

                The only thing that happened more frequently than celebrity deaths were incidents involving either police brutality or deadly assaults on police officers. People were dying with incidents involving the police and some say it was unwarranted while others come to the defense of the police. Whichever side you believe in is something I’ll leave up to you because this isn’t about proving innocence. The result of these incidents were deadly attacks on police in several cities where many heroes fell. Rage and frustration were the motivation behind these attacks and it was also the motivation to get an outsider into office.

                Donald Trump won an election that will probably go down in modern American history as the most controversial campaign between two unpopular candidates. A choice between two candidates; one who appeared to be a corrupt politician and the other is a business man whose mouth is bigger than his brain. It seemed clear that we were all in trouble no matter who won this election and Donald Trump came out as the victor in this race. I wish him well as president and hope he does a good job but all things considered, people are on edge. The year can be described in many ways depending on your point of views and believes but the word I chose to describe is unique.

                Something brought out all the negativity in us and it showed for all the world to see and now we need to accept it. I understand that things are complicated and people just want things to be great again but we forgot the most important question. What is the point of being great if it brings out the worst in us? I hope things do get better after this year because I think I speak for a great deal of people when I say this year was almost too much to handle. Whatever next year brings, I wish you all many blessings, good fortune and good luck.