2016 has been a trying year. It's been a meander of highs and lows, ravaging through our spirits and coming at us with all it could. When this year began, like every year, we tried to adopt a positive attitude for the new 12 month cycle but 2016 has reinforced the lesson of expecting less equals less disappointment. But I will acknowledge that it wasn't completely trash (before people assume I'm a staunch pessimist), some of this year was worth recycling with its tiny chasms of light and warmth. Here are a few reasons why the rest of it can be cancelled, we can try again Jan, 2017.
- Why has this year felt like 12 years?
As one gets older, it seems time saunters past with an unbelievable quickness. I've seen years fly by, but it's been 2016 for a while now. We may be sitting here under November's annoying smirk now, waiting for December's debauchery one can't help but wonder why this year has felt so long. Our birthdays came and went, lovers left and some returned, yet we're still in 2016. It's probably because most people went through tons this year, while recovering from some form of difficulty another one was already zooming towards you. Therefore, due to this year dragging, it has incited this underlying lethargy among people, especially now towards the end. All I know is, 2017 can come now, so we can try this again.
- It was the year of realising things
Damn
Kylie Jenner called it. This was the year of realising things and it's not nice. At times it's easier to remain in ignorance and its resultant bliss, the load is lighter. But 2016 decided otherwise. 2016 was the volcanic eruption of some form of intellectuality, we engaged over issues that were universal to the human experience. Whether you realised that some of your friends need to be cancelled or that your colleague is actually racist, 2016 made you see something differently.
- President Donald Trump is real now
This is one of the biggest calamities of 2016.
President Donald Trump is a real thing, no more jokes, he is moving into the White House. This bigoted, Islamophobic, misogynistic, white patriarch, racist (okay the list is long, you get it) will be the leader of the so-called "free world". Two things are striking about his win: Clearly this man's views are representative of a large majority of the American population, which tells you something is broken in the national American psyche and finally, from Michelle Obama to Melania, not sure how that will work. It's about to be an interesting time for U.S and the world.
- Drought
This El Nino caused havoc across the whole SADC region. In Zimbabwe, Save the Children UK said that children are already
dying due to complications related to malnutrition. The number of under-fives who have died of hunger-related causes in Binga town has reached 200 over the last 18 months, which triple the usual rate. UN World Food Programme said that one in three Zimbabweans can't meet their needs. Mothers have started foraging for wild berries and roots to feed their children. In Nambia, Beverage giant, Coca-Cola, decided to
stop producing all canned drinks and rather import them from South Africa. Whether you care about climate change and global warming, we know it's real now. The realisation is, water is of vital importance to almost everything. The biggest lesson here is to be more watchful in how we use water.
- Whiteness still trending / Black Madness is alive
Look, black people are mad. Rightfully so. Black madness is caused mainly by the realisation that there are certain opportunities that you are denied and the certain things white people tend to get away with. Max S. Gordon wrote an essay
'Be Glad That You Are Free: On Nina, Miles Ahead, Lemonade, Lauryn Hill and Prince'. In this essay, Gordon speaks on "black madness" which he describes as "a response to living a life constantly subjected to violence – psychic, physical, social and political." It's a perfect summation of the black experience in 2016. The madness is definitely a response to whiteness and what it can get away with. This year my black madness flared up way to frequently, from all the young black people gunned down by police in the U.S to our own police brutality during #FeesMustFall. We must just light candles, play Solange's A Seat At The Table and exorcise 2016.
- Being 'woke' is overrated
I hate this
"woke" phenomenon. This is because it seems to have an intrinsic exclusionary characteristic, thus creating this othering which is problematic. The woke people tweet and chastise with every opportunity instead of engaging with maturity. People in the world have shocking opinions and thoughts which may not align with what is considered right, being woke should be about educating and helping others unlearn their flawed perceptions and opinion by leading others to the light, calling people out without engaging alienates even further and defeats the purpose of educating.
Also, everyone needs to be woke.
