BY KRIS MANUEL
The year 2012 witnessed tragedy and triumph.
In February, Whitney Houston died at the age of 48, a day before the 54th Grammy Awards. One of the most successful singers in the 1980s, her drug addiction took a toll on her career and on her life.
More than 180 lives were also lost just a few months back when Hurricane Sandy hurled itself ashore in late October, causing cities to evacuate and damaging many homes. And, on July 20, 12 people were shot to death and 58 were wounded in a movie theatre during a screening of The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Colo.
However, the year 2012 also marked a time of people getting together for change.
Quebec students across that province went on strike against a proposal, Law 48, to raise tuition fees by 75 per cent over the next five years. The movement started on Feb. 13 with more than 100,000 protesting students. After less than 24 hours in power, the newly appointed Parti Quebecois government cancelled the bill.
With the U.S. election on Nov. 6, Barack Obama won a second term in a close battle against Mitt Romney, gaining 51 per cent of the votes. But that wasn’t all. Maine and Maryland voted in favour of allowing same-sex marriage. And Washington State and Colorado voted in favour of recreational use of cannabis while the medical use of marijuana was approved in Massachusetts.
In November, thousands of Ontario elementary teachers threatened to stop working in December. Elementary and high school teachers are angry about the change in their contracts with new rules that restrict their right to strike or refuse to work outside school hours.
On Aug. 5, 2012, NASA’s rover Curiosity landed on Mars to search for life. NASA announced it has found evidence of water, sulphur and matters containing chlorine on the “Red Planet” about four months after its landing.
And let’s not forget, we did survive the Dec. 21, 2012 apocalypse.
So let’s live 2013 to the fullest.
As American author Maria Robin said, “Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”
The views herein represent the position of the newspaper, not necessarily the author.
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