Dear 2016,

You have been an… interesting year… Both on a personal and global level, you have been a year which has taught us many lessons.

You seem to have been set on reminding us of our mortality, as our heros and idols who we revered as gods turned out to be… human. You’ve been showing us who and what we truly value as these celebrities each received headlines, photo collages and tributes while each person who died in Aleppo became a number.

You’ve shown us how we can reach for greatness, inspire each other and cheer each other on in Rio, France and Wimbledon.

You’ve been showing us how we can be driven by fear; fear of others and fear of the unknown. We have been surprised at what we deem to be the stupidity and ignorance of others, failing to see the wooden planks in our own eyes.

You have shown us the havoc and chaos we humans can inflict on each other and on this planet we call home. Cities destroyed, children denied refuge, terror unleashed and and and.

You have tried again and again to divide us, to segregate us, to place us in a hierarchy. To think of humanity as “us” and “them”. 

But we’re learning something else. Something we’re going to teach you and the years to come. We’ve started to grasp it, we’re not quite there yet, it’s going to take a lot of effort and time. But we’re starting to understand that there is no “us” and “them”, there is only “us”. There is no “here” and “there”, there is only “here”, this planet. 

We’ve been using our voices to speak for the voiceless. We’ve been using our money to support those doing the hard graft, where our hands can’t reach. We have been inspired by what our fellow humans have been capable of. Technology has connected us to war torn cities and we have heard their cries and pleas for help. Our neighbours are no longer faceless, we know their names. We know we can no longer claim to be ignorant, to look the other way. As tempting as it is to change the channel, we cannot claim we didn’t see.

We are learning that we are each responsible for each other.

So I have hope that things will get better. I have hope that 2017 will be a brighter year. I have hope that each of us can learn to see each other as of infinite value. I have hope that we can love each other, even those we disagree with.

So, goodbye 2016. You won’t be missed by many. But thank you for the lessons you have taught us. Thank you for preparing us for the year to come. 

Here’s to 2017.