2016. The year so hated that it became a meme. And with good reason.
2016 was the year of the never ending political campaign, loathed by citizens on both sides of the political spectrum. 2016 saw the deaths of many famous people from generations past, like David Bowie, Carrie Fisher, Ron Glass, Gene Wilder, Alan Rickman, Alan Thicke, George Michael, Prince, Muhammad Ali, and many others. Creepy clown sightings occurred across the country. And at this school, 2016 was the start of renovation, which is going perfectly, as seen by the million and a half articles the Oracle has written about it. So, now that 2017 has been underway for a few months, we have the chance to see if 2017 has been all that much better.
2017 can’t be much worse than 2016, right? It’s not like those problems we had last year can somehow continue as a new year dawns, can they? WRONG! Let’s start with the political situation. The polarization and divisions we all felt during the campaign are back and worse than ever. The President’s every action is scrutinized by those on the left, and the right is up in arms about the apparent hypocrisy of the left criticizing governmental action. Protests like the Women’s March and the March for Life got many people active in politics on both sides of the political spectrum, while the parts of America that both sides can agree on continue to diminish. The President has declared war on CNN and basically acts the same way he did during the campaign, while Republicans are getting yelled at and mobbed by angry citizens over their promises to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Politics is a subject so sore on both sides, bringing it up can open a Pandora’s Box of anger and hate, which is directed either at the President or those working against him, depending on which side of the political spectrum one sees oneself.
As for this school, 2017 has largely been a continuation of the problems of 2016, especially with construction. And a major disappointment of this year was the fact that there were much fewer snow days than usual, resulting in fewer days off for students, in a time when summer vacation is shortened.
In the end, one has to take the good with the bad and move on. There are still positive aspects of both years. 2017 is still not halfway over, which is plenty of time for things to improve. And finally, we should forgive 2016. It’s not the year’s fault that things went so terribly, but ours.