2019: The year that was…
And Voila! The end of the year 2019 is here.
You will be awed if you search the internet for the most interesting and historic things that have taken place in 2019. The list that follows takes no particular order or interest but all the events stood out in their own right.
- The Mexican drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán was finally jailed for life after being arrested two times, escaping the prison twice, and eventually getting rearrested (the third time) and extradited to the United States for prosecution.
That is not all. His son, Guzman Lopez, pulled one of the most daring criminal stunts of the century. On October 17th, the Mexican police force managed to arrest him. However, they had no choice but to release him after the cartel’s soldiers surrounded the region and caused mayhem in the entire city of Culiacan in Sinaloa State. Can you even fathom forcing the police to release you unconditionally when you are among the most wanted people across the globe? Well, it happened in 2019.
2. Still on sad matters, The World Economic Forum released a report that projected that with the current pollution rate, the amount of plastic in our oceans will outweigh that of the fish by the year 2050. Do I really need to emphasize the need to recycle plastics or stop using them entirely?
3. On February 26th, Cardinal George Powell of the Catholic church was convicted of child sexual abuse in the city of Melbourne, Australia. At the time, he was the treasurer at the Vatican church, which made him the highest church official to face prosecution and conviction. He was jailed for 6 years on March 13th. Quite sad that someone elected to uphold the morals of billions of followers can be convicted of such crimes, but as indicated in the Bible, “We know them not from what the say but from their actions.”
4. On March 5th, Bugatti announced the making of the most expensive car in history, La Voiture Noire. It goes for €16.7 million, which is equivalent to approximately $19 million. This is sad news because very few people can afford it. The good news is that only one piece will be produced and it has been bought (already) by an anonymous tycoon.
Such things do not make sense. You buy a car worth that much and still want to remain anonymous?
5. An annual World Happiness report was released showing that Finland tops the list (for the second time in a row) while South Sudan has the least happy population. The statistics make sense because Finland has arguably the best education system and every citizen is guaranteed to receive universal healthcare. Students in the country graduate with a clean financial slate as opposed to most nations where learners accrue loans taken to finance their learning. The country also enjoys a sparse population, which literally means that no one is constantly trying to step on your back to prosper. South Sudan on the other hand is the worlds most recently recognized sovereign state and the citizens are still making efforts to stand on both feet. The systems including government, education, and even the economy is still at infancy, which contributes to the dismal rating in terms of the happiness of its citizenry.
6. On 1 May, Argentinian football player, Lionel Messi scored his 600th goal for his club FC Barcelona against Liverpool. In football, scoring 50 goals is no joke. Now, scoring 600 goals for a single team is legendary.
I know what Cristiano Ronaldo’s fan are thinking. I am not a Messi fan too!
In fact, there are numerous debates that you can never find a winner including; Who is better between Cristiano and Messi, who is at a bigger advantage between growers or showers, and who won the clash between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd “Money” Mayweather. You have an answer to these questions? Chances are a global survey may show equal supporters for each of the above debate objects!
7. Still in May, Orange, a French Telecom company alongside its former CEO and other Executives went to trial on charges of psychologically harassing its staff. Apparently, the torture led to 14 suicides among the employees and 12 attempted suicides. I can’t help but field an array of questions (Of course in my head) like what form of harassment a boss can orchestrate to make an employee end his life instead of going for the most obvious action; leaving the company. Well, if you are in an organization and your superiors consider your mental health in their decisions, bless them. In December, the court found the accused guilty of institutional harassment through fostering an environment of bullying in the company and fined each of them alongside varied jail terms.
8. On August 2nd, A seven-year-old boy with 526 teeth in his jaw underwent an operation in Chennai India. While some of the teeth were very small in size with the smallest being 0.1mm they were developed and growing independent of each other. Scientists had to arrange them and display them to the world in case there was a ‘doubting Thomas.’ It was determined that the boy had a benign tumor and that the name of the condition is compound composite Odontoma.
9. In the morning of October 12, A Kenyan athlete and world marathon record holder, Eliud Kipchoge became the first human to run a full marathon in under 2 hours in the challenge dubbed INEOS 1:59. The phenomenal runner had 36 pacemakers who helped him maintain a steady paceof 2 minutes and 50 seconds per kilometer. He finished the run in 1 hour 59 minutes and 40 seconds. With the win, Kipchoge was able to stamp his mantra that “No Human is limited” by doing what every person thought was impossible.
10. Finally, On December 18th, the United States president Donald Trump was impeached by members of the House of Representative making him the third president to be in a similar circumstance. While the impeachment awaits trial at the Senate to determine his fate at the country’s helm, it is highly unlikely that Trump will be removed from office. The voting at the House of Representatives was along party lines. Therefore, Trump may be saved by his Republican party senators who are 53, against 45 and 2 for the Democrats and Independents respectively. On this, I guess we can say let the game begin.
So, what have you been doing all year?
As you can see above. Things have been moving. Some fast, others slowly. Achievements have been made; history written. Good things and bad things have taken place from the start of the year to this last day of 2019.
If you ask yourself what you’ve achieved in the year, I am sure you will get a thing or two that you prospered in. It may also seem like you have performed poorly against all metrics. However, the fact that you are here means that you have tried your best to survive and make it this far.
The Charles Darwin’s theory on survival intimates that the world is in constant competition and that all weaklings are rooted out to create more space for the strong people. Its either you step out or you phase out because there is no side-stepping in the daily obligations and duties that we have to contend with.
In short, everyone that made it in 2019 is a winner by default. It does not matter whether we had resolutions and how many we fulfilled. What worked and what failed. In fact, it does not matter whether your resolutions have been the same for the past 4 years and you have not chucked any from the list. This is the period (4 years) that the UK has been trying to leave the European union to no avail. You versus a whole G6 nation? Who has greater success prospects?
The year, and decade is gone. My resolve is to let the past be and start the new one on a clean slate. I have learned that some things are better left where they are because trying to move or mend them is more destructive.
See you in 2020!
