Well 2016 is gone and I say good riddance to it. 2016 was an “annus horribilis” to quote Queen Elisabeth.
“[This] is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure,” the Queen said in 1992. “In the words of one of my more sympathetic correspondents, it has turned out to be an ‘Annus Horribilis.’ I suspect that I am not alone in thinking it so.”
Queen Lizzy did have a horrible year in 1992, from her royal family members’ intimate moments being exposed in the press to a fire at Windsor Castle. It’s no wonder she used the Latin to refer to a horrible year. That was in ’92 and the Crown and the British People survived, and we too have survived 2016 and the rise of President-elect Trump and his trumpeters.
America had an annus horribilis in 2016, and I personally had one, too. A shared loss is the passing of Muhammad Ali, and way too many others (Bowie, Fisher, Reynolds, Prince. . . .). Muhammad Ali said much before becoming quiet due to his ailment. My favorite quote from him is: “A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.”
As 2016 beats a retreat like a rabid dog that’s been badly beaten, with its tail sliding between its haunches and its back hunched while foaming at the mouth and limping away sideways, while hoping against all hope that it’s not going to get beat again, I say to 2016—fuck you! Get out of here and never return you mangy mutt.
With that off my chest, let us resolve that we shall not have wasted 2016. Let us learn from it and view the new year with wisdom gained from 2016. Let us enter into 2017 with that “Can Do” attitude. And let us, We The People, remain vigilant and protect our rights because:
“The true patriot scrutinizes the actions of his own government with unceasing vigilance. And when his government violates the morality and rightness associated with principles of individual freedom and private property, he immediately rises in opposition to his government.” — Jacob G. Hornberger.
I suspect that that patriotic duty will keep us fully occupied in 2017, and for at least the following three years.
Happy New Year World, And Especially To The United States of America!
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