Is the world getting crappier... or are we just more aware of it?

2016 was a weird year. It was like a series of those weird slow motion moments where the whole time you're questioning "omg is this really happening rn omg is this real this can't be real" only to know in the back of your mind that the terrible thing is indeed happening. we saw so much death, so much destruction, so much cruelty coming from everywhere, all the time. When we thought the healing was going to start, there was more pain and tragedy just lurking around the corner.

As we do when there is inexplicable pain invading our lives, we turn to whatever we can grapple for answers. We turn to the past, we turn to the future, unfortunately, we turn to each other. We toss blame back and forward, without ever acknowledging our own. We become absorbed in the pain of others, sharing articles on Facebook, making vague comments such as "have you seen what happened in ...? so sad isn't it", as long as that pain is felt far away, we don't really take the time to care, while we are being bombarded with images of people suffering. It seems like we get thrown one thing after another and I find myself often wondering, is the world getting crappier or are we more aware of it? I'd like to believe the latter is the right answer. As a collective whole, humanity has been through true horror, horror coming from all parts of the globe. I'd like to think that, while we don't seem to learn from them, things aren't getting worse, but that we now know about other people's pain in a manner to which we couldn't have decades ago.

It's a weird paradox to experience, living at the time we are living - as I'm sure it was for all those who came before us - to be able to see the worst and the best in people so drastically. You see children, civilians, being murdered by the hundreds in places like Aleppo, but you also see doctors, soldiers, other civilians risking their lives to help these people to safety. You see people blaming terror and destruction on immigrants and refugees  and then you see people rise up and open their homes to those fleeing war. You see one of the most powerful countries in the world elect a man known for being sexist, racist and homophobic and you see people mobilize, protest, offer kindness instead of hate, when the latter is so much easier to spew out. You see people deciding to rise above, to do better, to be better, to put their feelings of anger aside and work towards the future. It's a weird time, 2017. There's a lot of pressure on you to be better. Live up to it, or at least let everyone live up to it.

At least we have obama/biden bromance memes...

And evil kermit memes, never forget about evil kermit memes...