Everyone has been giving the year 2016 a hard time, claiming it to be one of the worst years. Yes it may be true that 2016 was a rough year with the deaths of many celebrities, a very interesting presidential election, and the rise of hate crimes around the country.

With all of these terrible and stressful things it is stopping us from seeing the good things that have happened in 2016.

• Giant pandas, green sea turtles, humpback whales, Columbian white tailed deer,  and manatees are no longer endangered.
• Sea World has stopped breeding captive killer whales.
• There is now an Ebola vaccine.
• With the money raised from the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, researchers have discovered the gene responsible for ALS.
• 93% of children in the world have learned to read and write. This is the highest percentage in human history.
• We have established a resolution for the rights of transgenders and non-conforming individuals.
• The population of wild tigers has increased for the first time in 100 years.
• Volunteers in India planted 50 million trees in 24 hours.
• There was a nine percent increase in the survival rate of people suffering from pancreatic cancer.
• Scientists have created a mind controlled prosthetic arm.
• Malaria cases have gone down 60 percent globally.
• There has been a major global push for renewable energy

Instead of focusing on the bad things that happened during 2016, maybe we should focus on the good. Now it is time to make 2017 even better.