Even if 2016 wasn't the most awesome year on record, are we actually looking forward to 2017?
By Owen Panettieri (playwright, lyricist)
I've heard a lot of people complaining recently about 2016 and how overall it was an awful year that they can't wait to see in the rear view mirror. I don't share that opinion. I'm not looking for the year to be over. Personally, 2016 was pretty good to me. I did what I resolved to do back in January. I lost roughly 30 lbs, I traveled to places in Europe I'd always dreamed of visiting and I had a production of my latest play A Burial Place play in NYC that was as artistically enriching as anything I've ever done. I was seated in front of Anna Wintour at not one but TWO fancy events. I got to go on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride again - several times. I was surrounded by the love of family and friends. I ate good food. I slept comfortably in a nice home, I took lots of cute pictures of my dog sleeping ridiculously on our couch. I consider myself very fortunate, In a lot of ways, 2016 and I are cool with each other.
But I'll share with you one personal story that kinda sums up 2016's big problem. As I mentioned earlier, Josh and I went on a trip to Europe in July. It was a fantastic experience through Paris, Vienna, Salzburg, Munich and London. However, every single day we'd wake up to some sort of horrible international incident having happened either back home or nearby. There was the terrorist attack in Nice, the failed coup in Turkey, train attacks in Germany, mass shootings, police shootings, the creepy awfulness of the whole Republican convention. Very heavy shit happened every day and we felt it. It finally caught up with us head on in Munich, when there was a mass shooting not far from the Olympia shopping mall. Ten people, including the shooter, were killed and dozens were injured. The city went into lockdown during dinnertime. There was no public transportation. We were held inside our restaurant and under the impression there were as many as three active shooters still unaccounted for in the area. It was under those conditions we had to walk around the locked down area for an hour to get back to our hotel. The truth of the situation was that the lone shooter was dead and the threat was over, but we had to walk home believing that maybe we could be shot to death at anytime. It was scary. And it was very sad.
Despite all of that, we saw so many beautiful things, met incredibly kind and generous people and went on wonderful adventures. So that kinda sums up 2016 for me: a beautiful adventure in which we also constantly lived with the fear of being killed amidst chaos orchestrated by crazy angry people. I understand I've been extremely fortunate this year and that many people around me had it much harder, experiencing deep personal losses and carrying themselves through it with courage and grace. Given that, I can see why people would want to turn to a fresh page and start anew. It's just that I don't see what's so great on the horizon in the BIG PICTURE sense when the calendar reads January once again. I myself am clinging to the final days of the Obama Administration. As a country, we went through some horrible things over the last four years, but at least we had a sane, decent, knowledgeable adult in charge. The usual awful things are going to come our way in 2017, except now we are going to deal with them under President Trump. He brings with him one of the most horribly unqualified cabinets in the history of country. Seriously, none of the people who will be running some of the largest bureaucratic institutions in the country have any idea what they are supposed to be doing. Paving the road to hell with their "good intentions" does not equal a solid infrastructure plan. People are living scared, national seciruty is at rick and we will be living in a further unstablizied world, where we can't even look to the president as a calm and steady voice trying to hold us together. 2017 is going to be a total shit show.
So I'm genuinely curious to know what people are excited for in the New Year. I think it's important to have personal goals for the year and to move forward with hope and determination in your heart. I'm going to be thinking about my own goals over the next few weeks and plotting out what I want to achieve for myself in 2017. But overall, I feel a great sadness for our country, and I'm grappling with what to do about it every day. I'm motivated to resist fascism and will fight to protect the equal rights of all Americans, but I can't say I'm actively looking forward to it. We were so close to something so much better. Now we're going to be on defense for at least two years trying to make it to the midterm elections. I am worried about all the people who already believe their lives don't matter, who go into the new year feeling actively persecuted by the governent for being who they are. Activism will be important in 2017. Art will be important in 2017. I wish everyone the chance to seek out beautiful things in the new year. In the meantime, I'm going to savor what's left of 2016 and be grateful for the good things I've got.
OWEN PANETTIERI is the author of the awarding-winning plays The Timing of a Day and Vestments of the Gods. His latest play A Burial Place had its world debut in NYC in November. Member of Playwrights Gallery in NYC.Big fan of CATS. www.owenpanettieri.com
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