Let's be honest for just a minute. 2015 sucked.
No, it did. We finished last year waving away 2014 with hope that 2015 is going to be better and it just wasn't. I don't care which side of the political or ideological aisle you find yourself on 2015 was lacking a lot.
We started off with Charlie Hebdo, stumbled to Ferguson, Black Lives Matter had their moment and we moved on to the next tragedy. We ended up back in Paris and then to San Bernardino in between America saw mass shootings, low-labor participation rates, was scolded (repeatedly) by Obama because we did not 100% agree with his decrees.
Economically things are about the same now as they were this time last year, except oil has fallen off a cliff and appears to be nowhere near a recovery. Of course, this is a good thing for the global politicians who met in Paris who agreed that fossil fuels are bad and that they're going to do something about them or something.
Politically 2015 was a mess. In Houston we had municipal elections won by the cast of characters that got us into this mess, and on the National scene we saw Republicans debating for the Presidency led by a blowhard, surrounded by two guys who might have potential, a woman who speaks well, but isn't taken all that seriously by the electorate and the usual cast of rogues. Oh, and a Bush....for some reason.
On the Democratic side it's even worse. You see, they have a Queen. A Queen who feels that it is her birthright to ascend to the Throne and rule in her part-time Husband's name. She is being offset by a court jester who doesn't understand the simple concept of collateral and two other guys who are.........(sorry, fell asleep there for a minute)
While I don't think that we're going to be stuck with the "would you rather" choice of Trump or Clinton I also don't think that is outside the realm of possibility. You might as well ask the American people if they would like to slide down a razor blade into a vat of rubbing alcohol or be forced to eat a bucket of Bernie Sander's toenail clippings. Honestly, I'm not sure what the answer is to that question.
Weather-wise we took a beating as well. Not only does it seem that we're intentionally trying to slaughter Gaia we're being told that she's fighting back. (or not, depending on the disaster and whether or not it fits the "the world is overheating" mantra)
And that's the rub. Because no matter how bad all of this seems there are still reasons to plow forward in this world and keep up hope. No, not the Obama hope that's driven by lectures and 1,000,000 rounds of golf that he's played since taking office (probably) but real hope. Hope that comes from stories like a Michigan football player who took his $315 Best Buy Gift Card and bought iPod gift cards and headphones to give to the children in an Ann Arbor Hospital, or stories of people tipping waiters thousands of dollars, or stories of Good neighbors doing good things no matter how bad things seem.
Today is the last day of 2015. Let it go. As I said last year (and hope to say many years going forward) you cannot change or impact what happens in the past, nor can you alter it.
The only thing you can control is how you act going forward. and how you react to things that happen to you. I choose to react proactively, and well, and to take lemons and make them into sugar-free lemon squares (I was diagnosed with Type II diabetes in 2015 so....you know). And I hope you do to (although, yours don't have to be sugar-free obviously).
And I choose to not worry about what silliness those who produce nothing try and dream up for the city. I don't care how wide a private business owner decides to build their sidewalks and I sure as heck don't care where others choose to live. (Provided it's not in my neighborhood, if they're new urbanists)
In short, I don't care about 2015. It's done and gone.
Now, let's raise a glass. (Or four, or five, or....lost count. Sorry)
