HOW BAD WAS 2016 FOR YOU?

It has not been a year filled with wonder, has it?  

Unless you are wondering how it all got this crazy.

But time is not an episodic TV program.  

It flows from one season to the next without pause or commercial break.

The Calendar Year is not some sort of Cosmic Etch-A-Sketch 

that gets shaken blank by the final descent of the Glowing Ball over Time's Square.

The whole world will stay as much a war zone as it was during 2016.

Remember when 2015 was the worst year ever, according to everyone in your Twitter timeline? 

How about 2014? 

Here’s the thing: 

Each year is the sum of hundreds, if not thousands, of years 

of oppression, class conflict, and geo-political maneuvering. 

Horrible things are going to happen regardless of the calendar year. 

We look into the mirror of our memories from the past year and see not an objective representation of what was ...

but a reflection of who we were and who we became. 

 On this day in 1936, Clare Boothe Luce's The Women opened on Broadway, 

the first of its record-breaking 657 performances.

The play was attacked by harsh criticisms, but Boothe rose above it all.

The Women brought first-fame to Luce, and opportunities 

which her beauty, considerable ambition and adequate talent would not waste.

 Her writings extended from drama and screen scenarios to fiction, journalism, and war reportage. 

She became the wife of Henry Luce, publisher of Time, Life, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated.

Clare Boothe Luce became the first American woman 

appointed to a major ambassadorial post abroad. (Italy)

What am I saying?

Life is an unknown, dusty road winding in surprising, often unpleasant ways.

I choose to look at the moments of this past year filled with kindness, compassion, and beauty, 

leaving the thorns behind for they have drawn as much blood as I want to give them.

No need to carry their pain with me down the path ahead, right?

In the pages of the book 2016, 

what did you find that was worth carrying with you into 2017?

How did the past year treat you?  

I pray it treats you better in 2017.