Annus Horribillis

The best things in life may be free but you wouldn’t know it from looking at

In November of 1992, Queen Elizabeth gave a speech marking her 40th anniversary as queen.  In that speech, she referred to the passing year as “Annus Horribilis” which means “Horrible year” in Latin.  “1992 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure.” She said.  “I suspect that I am not alone in thinking it so.”I think that many of us would echo those sentiments for the year that has just passed.  With the exception of 1968, there is no year in recent memory that can come close.  It’s interesting, of course, that both years happened to be election years.  What is it about the presidential election that seems to bring out the worst in all of us?  I suspect a lot of the angst is a result of expecting perfection from flawed human beings, and we will always be disappointed.

But, as tragic as the results of the presidential election were for some, just like in 1968, there was much more that contributed to this horrible year.

1968 began with the Tet offensive in Vietnam which resulted in the deaths of many U.S. servicemen serving there.  That was followed by the assassination of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy and riots in the streets of several major U.S. cities and finally the riots at the Democratic party convention in Chicago.

One of the primary differences between 1968 and 2016 was the primaries.  The New Hampshire primary, which is always the first in the nation, took place in March as opposed to the beginning of the year as was the case last year.  Bobby Kennedy didn’t even announce his intention to run until March. In 1968, one did not have to endure an entire year of campaign robo calls and media advertisements.

Another big difference is that with the exception of a couple of crazies, we were not killing each other in 1968 as we were in 2016.  The past year set a record for killing of police and each other.  In Chicago alone, there were 972 homicides.  We had kids killing each other, police shooting citizens and citizens shooting police.  Between the vitriol launched by politicians against their opponents and the constant reports of shootings and massacres, our limit on how much violence we could absorb was exhausted.

We can only stand so much pain, but we always seem to take stock of the year by the celebrity deaths.  Last year had more than it’s share.  There were rock stars, politicians, actors, and true heroes who were lost last year, although the media seems to obsess over stars and musicians the most.  Much was made of the deaths of musicians David Bowie, Prince, George Michael and  Leonard Cohen while some of the more notable in my opinion such as Leon Russell, Merle Haggard and Glen Frey made their exit to much less fanfare.  In the world of politics, we lost Janet Reno, the first woman to be U.S. Attorney general and Justice Antonin Scalia increasing the consternation surrounding the election and who would replace him on the Supreme Court.  We lost religious figures like Mother Mary Angelica and Tim LaHaye and two incredible writers, Elie Weisel and Harper Lee.  Some of the deaths were truly tragic like the shooting of Christina Grimme, while others like Nancy Reagan and John Glenn succumbed to old age after living to their nineties.

There seemed to be no end to the bad news, culminating with the deaths of Carrie Fisher and her mother Debbie Reynolds within one day of each other.

The media would have us believe that all of these deaths touched us in some way, that they were all heroes, or people to be admired and loved, but they’re wrong.  The true heroes, those we can really love, are those who impact our lives every day.  As I reflect on the year just ended, I was most impacted by the death of one of my childhood friends from the neighborhood where I grew up in Kansas City and a local man, Jeff O’Dell.  I did not know him well, but he was my neighbor’s constant companion.  My last glimpse of him was on Thursday, as I watched him walk down the street after leaving Sally’s house.  Jeff was not famous, but he was loved and admired by many and his death leaves a significant gap.  Perhaps that’s all we should strive for, to entwine ourselves in the lives of those around us so as to leave an impression on others.

Perhaps, as Queen Elizabeth stated, we cannot look back on last year with undiluted pleasure, but we can cherish the memories of those that we cared for who have been lost.  The rich and famous are not the only ones worth remembering as the year ends.