When I write up a year in review, I attempt to wait until the final week. So much can happen between the time other mainstream and big websites publish their perspective on the year that was and the press time. Big events.. big news.. Such as the fact that one of the most iconic photos of 2016 came after most others published their year in review narratives: A terrorist with gun in the air after shooting dead a Russian ambassador..
2016 was a bizarre year.. It was incredibly fast. I swear, even people of a younger age who don’t perceive time moving as fast as us old folk, also agreed; this year blazed through a calendar and left the paper version of each day in shreds..
Maybe that was because during this calendar year we were so divisive.. so at each other’s throats about just …well….just about everything. The election, mainly. The Trump vs Hillary decision rocked our media landscape and political world. People said there was no way Trump could be president. Heck, they even were still saying that when polls closed at 8pm across the East Coast. And then tallies were tallied and media moguls were shocked. NBC news personnel cried on air and looked flabbergasted at the American decision. It was a nightmare for some and a redemption for others. No doubt 2017 will be just as divisive a year as this was..
But we were divided 50/50 on just about everything else, too.
The social media landscape has done that to us. We are creatures of habit..and our new habits involve 160 characters and insults across all platforms. Facebook has turned into a volatile home of ‘fake news’ .. but my fake news isn’t yours and your real news isn’t mine. So what’s real? Is anything real, Truman?
Syria’s embattled cities have forever scarred our brains. If we paid attention. For those who did, it was an atrocious year of civil war in that nation. The ‘Aleppo’ boy image has scarred us. Except Gary Johnson, who may still be wondering if Aleppo is an animal or a place..
This was a year of terror on the home front.. the nightclub in Florida was the scene of a horrific shooting. There were police shootings across the nation, along with protests that often turned violent against police who some perceived as racist.. The mass shooting of police in Baton Rouge left many shocked and wondering if their repetitive rhetoric led to a landscape where such heinous acts could occur.. There were no answers .. no changed.
2016 also was a very bad year to be an aging celebrity.. Just think of some of the big names we lost in the year–from the moment January 1 struck midnight, celebs advanced in age were leaving this earthly platform.. People like the greatest in the world, Ali, to Florence Henderson and Nancy Reagan. Just this month alone Alan Thicke and Zsa Zsa Gabor joined in the 2016 RIP club.
This year, mostly however, seemed to be one of change. A new age, perhaps.
There is an interesting tidbit I’ll leave you with concerning my own personal perspective on 2016.. There is a book, somewhere in my garage in some tote tucked away, about Nostradamus. I believe the book was purchased around the mid to late 90s.. I always held on to it, because it was written by someone who believed HE alone was able to find the true meaning of all of the quatrains that the famous prognosticator (minus the groundhog in Punxsutawney) wrote.. In that book, there was a section about 2008 – 2016 .. that it would be years of turbulence and unsurity.. but that in 2016, a new age would dawn. A different age, one that may not always be bright and cheerful but also one that will not be dumb and glum.
And think about it.. we are actually living in a period where amazing things are happening. So are scary things.. very scary often. But living through history was never safe and being a part of this planet was never completely fun.
2016 did seem to be a transition. One that none of us, collectively, can yet put our fingers on..It’s there, however. Noticeable as well.
So hold on to 16 as long as you can.The changes of 17 will make us women and men.