Giving Voice to My Astonishment

Goodbye 2016. Don’t come back.

You were harsh, abrasive, and caustic.
You
rubbed
me
the
wrong
way:
With your arrogance, hypocrisy, hate, belligerence, and turmoil.
You split families apart.
You rifted away our friendships, at least what we assumed were so.
Your Grim Reaper was a greedy bastard—taking way too many,
too soon.
(And one of my own—I won’t forget or forgive this.)
Who takes a mother and daughter within the span of a day? You!
Deplorable!
Wait! Don’t even get me started on that, 2016.
Anger, vitriole, ignorance, hatred,
opinionated,
hurtful,
soul-sucking,
remorseless, 2016.
You, 2016, were the sick, twisted, narcissistic, psychopathic neighbor who moves in and proceeds to transform the once-peaceful (at least, almost) neighborhood into a
cataclysmic
shitshow.
So now, it’s time you move back on out.
We claim our neighborhood back.
We claim our hope, our courage, our peace.
Take your fear, anger, and sick sense of humor with you.
Let us welcome in a new neighbor, a new year—2017.
You can be damn sure we are working to make this year kinder,
more peaceful, more compassionate—the kind of neighbor we all want.
Kinder, yes.
But DO NOT mistake our kindness for weakness. We are also courageous, fierce, determined, and stronger than ever. Together.
Together.
We are out there watching:
Protecting the vulnerable,
Fighting alongside those who must take up the fight more fiercely,
Being a voice for the voiceless,
Meeting together
Creating together—the neighborhood that we want.
Think of us as an updated, new and improved, Neighborhood Watch Program:
Super-vigilant
Hyper-alert
Fiercely committed to life, to peace, to happiness, to love—for all.
FOR ALL.
It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood. Won’t you be our neighbor?
Neighborhood Watch 2017

I did not create the image. The interesting story behind the Mister Rogers sign is here.