For the last six months, I have seen a number of people posting how they wanted 2016 to end. A number of celebrities passed away this year and with each name added to the roster, more people jumped on the bandwagon blaming the year and cursing it. Of late, I even saw a meme stating that the poster wanted to stay awake to midnight on December 31st in order to watch the year die. I have found both the blaming of a year and the pleas to have time rush by interesting and ironic.
Now I do not accept for a moment that people are truly blaming the year of 2016 for all of these deaths, but, in a way, they are correct for it is time that will kill us all. However, it is not planned by the calendar. In talking with friends, I am told that the sadness comes due to the fact that with each celebrity passing, we lose a little part of ourselves. People have memories within their own lives that involve different songs, movies, shows, etc. So when a celebrity dies, so dies a little part of us.
In doing a little research, I did find a number of articles that stated that we did not lose more celebrities this year than others. Perhaps it was just the status of those who passed that make it so. Perhaps it is short memories of who we lost in the past. Either way, I do believe that my generation or the one just prior gives much more notice these passings than past generations. One of the reasons might be is that, as a society, we have made more celebrities. Therefore, it only stands to reason that we would be losing more as time goes on. I also wonder if the sadness of their passing might be a hint that we are all moving towards an end that cannot be avoided.
So with all the wishes of 2016 to come to an abrupt end. I am left with two thoughts.
Are we idolizing the wrong people? Each and every day, we are losing people in this country, in this world who have done so much more to make this a better world. They gave of themselves in so many ways, and yet they slip quietly away with little more than a line or two in the local paper. Some of those people are veterans both young and old. I am currently reading All the Gallant Men. If you want to see why we should mourn the passing of each WWII veteran, pick it up and have a read.
However, it is not just veterans for whom we should mourn. Each and every day in our world there are people out there working hard to support their families and work within their local communities. They struggle to make ends meet and yet still go out and help others. What we should be doing is looking around our little small corner of the globe and find those people. We should be writing articles about them, celebrating their lives, and mourning their passing.
The second thing I have learned through this year is that, perhaps, we are looking at life in the wrong ways. This is coming from a person who suffered a loss as well. While grief needs to happen and there is a place and time for it, we need to be looking for the good. Instead of mourning the passing of a celebrity, we should be celebrating the joy and happiness that they brought us. Dance another dance to a song they gave you, cry to a movie that they shared, laugh at some comedy that was given to us. Celebrate them.
More importantly, celebrate 2016! Good things did happen this past year. The Olympics brought us a new gymnast that gave people something to smile about. Panda Bears are no longer endangered. Measles have been wiped out of the Americas. If you are a Cub’s fan, you really have something to cheer about.
Bad things did happen this past year. Some came by choices of people. Some came through nature. Some a combination. Just the same, we shouldn’t ask for life to hurry up and let a year pass. For then, we are just asking for our time to end sooner. Instead tonight, don’t cheer that the year ended because it was so horrible. Take a moment and list the good things that happened to yourself or others. If you can’t then thank the year for letting you realize how good other years were. Yes. I will say a little prayer for my mom tonight and her passing. Then I will have a smile as I remember every moment I had with her.
So thank you 2016. Yes. I saw some lows, in those lows, you made me realize just how good the highs are.