'Cause I gotta have faith, faith, faith

My news feed is throbbing with “Can 2016 end already!?!”, “WORST year ever!!!”, “HOW MANY MORE LIVES DO YOU NEED???” etc. Yes, 2016 has seen “unpresidented” (©Donald Trump) cruelty, insanity and calamity but are we truly living in the WORST of times? 

At the moment, the global average life expectancy is 71.5 years – going up by six years since 1990; the biggest jumps apparently happened in poorer countries. 
Despite the wars in the Middle East and the apparent spike in terrorist attacks, the world is actually safer than ever before, in general. For most of human history, about 500 people out of every 100,000 were killed by other humans every year. Today, that figure is more like 6 to 8, worldwide. 

To sum it up, yes 2016 is a black hole that has taken away Syrian children, innocent lives in Dhaka, David Bowie, Snape and George Michael but you gotta have faith.
May 2017 suck less. Happy New Year!

– Karim Waheed, Resident Optimist, SHOUT