By Mitch Albom
Detroit Free Press Columnist
It's the last weekend of the year. Everyone is looking back, analyzing and ranking.I've given this some thought. I've combed through the headlines from last January to December.Here, then, is my 2012 Year in Review:
The
president was re-elected. We argued over the outcome.
The
Affordable Care Act was upheld. We argued over the cost.
Three states
voted in gay marriage. We argued over the future.
A man shot
up a theater. We argued over guns.
A man shot
up a school. We argued over guns.
A man shot a
teenager during a neighborhood watch. We argued over guns.
We never
resolved the arguments.
A football
coach was convicted of abusing children. We pointed fingers.
A bicyclist
was accused of cheating. We pointed fingers.
LeBron James
played his heart out. Fans criticized him.
Tim Tebow
didn't play at all. Fans criticized him, too.
Tom Cruise
split from his wife.
Johnny Depp
split from his girlfriend.
Kristen
Stewart split from her boyfriend.
And we acted
as if it truly mattered.
A few
stars left our galaxy
"The
Avengers" outsold every movie. Critics called it cartoonish.
"Fifty
Shades of Grey" outsold every book. Critics called it filthy.
"Here
Comes Honey Boo Boo" out-buzzed every TV show. Critics called it garbage.
Whitney
Houston died.
Dick Clark
died.
Donna
Summer, Andy Griffith and Davy Jones died.
Each was
immortalized -- for about a week.
Actors had
sex scandals; it made them more popular. A general had a sex scandal; it ruined
his career.
Athletes
signed deals for $100 million and were cheered as "worth every
penny."
Businessmen
made deals for $100 million and were jeered as "greedy
industrialists."
The L.A.
Kings won an unexpected championship. Most people were happy about it.
The Miami
Heat won an expected championship. Most people were unhappy about it.
A British
duchess got pregnant.
A British
prince got naked in Las Vegas .
Windows 7
begat Windows 8.
iPhone 4
begat iPhone 5.
The iPad
begat the iPad Mini.
Facebook
stock was the hottest offering in the history of world.
Then it came
out.
And it
wasn't.
A broken
record, in a sense
An Arab
nation fell into civil unrest.
An
Israeli-Palestinian conflict erupted.
The war in
Afghanistan continued.
All three
were true the year before, as well.
An
earthquake hit the Philippines .
An
earthquake hit Iran .
A hurricane
hit the East Coast.
And more
people died in Haiti .
Olympic
records were broken.
Weather
records were broken.
Cost-of-gas
records were broken.
A man dove
23 miles through the sky.
A man dove
36,000 feet underwater.
The end of
the world was predicted.
The end of
the world did not happen.
When all was
said and done, 2012 was completely different from years before it, yet very
much the same, because certain things are true no matter how long we live:
News stories
come, news stories go; nothing is as great as it sounds and nothing is as bad.
Technology is replaced by more technology; celebrities replace previous
celebrities; science discovers something, then searches for something else.
And the only
thing that truly affects your year is how you lived within your own house, how
you treated and were treated by your loved ones, and how you helped the people
and community around you.
Judged by
that, how was your 2012?
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