After Carrie Fisher was critically ill, I came across quite a few tweets about how 2016 is the worst and that 2016 must not claim Princess Leia too. Well, the world had just lost George Michael and that reminded us of the dozens of other celebrities who died this year. Sadly, not only did Carrie Fisher pass away but so did her mother Debbie Reynolds. And needless to say, twitter was not feeling the holiday spirit.
But celebrities dying were not and could not be the worst about this year. Terrible things happened all around. Some accidentally but many deliberately. It's not okay to terrorise people and it certainly isn't okay to kill innocent children. What is the point of destroying someone else just because you are miserable? What gives someone the right to exploit a helpless person just so that they can gain pleasure or profit? Who says that being tolerant of their own beliefs but not those of others, gives them the right to dictate what prejudice is? We have become self-involved and impatient and intolerant to the point of misplaced fury. Our children are becoming insolent, uninvolved and unmotivated. And then we say that it's been a bad year. It's only going to get worse. If we think we can fix it, we're bound for disappointment. Millions of people thinking they are right isn't going to set things right. But let us start with the basics like honesty, moderation, wonder, respect and then we will know what it means to hope.