2011 Was a Great Year For the World (Whether The World Realizes It or Not)

I can’t think of a year in recent memory that offered so much and got recognized for so little. This year, people’s moods were generally pretty down thanks to a sluggish worldwide economy and dismal U.S. jobs numbers. [Of course, it doesn’t help that one of the two U.S. political parties tried to milk every inch of this economic dissatisfaction in order to oust Obama next year, but I digress. It wouldn’t be an Alabama Liberal article without at least one pot shot at the political party that did absolutely nothing positive this year.]

But just because people felt down this year, doesn’t mean the world was actually down. The overall mood of pessimism really takes away from all of the amazing things accomplished in 2011. I guess the best way to put it would be–and I can’t believe I’m quoting this man–magician Penn Jillete who said “The world is always getting better and people always think it’s getting worse.”

And no where does that ring more true than in 2011. While baby boomers swear up and down that “kids today” are somehow worse than they were at a young age, “kids today” did an awful lot this year. From ousting Tunisia’s long standing dictator Bin Amin to leading a successful rebel army against Gaddafi.

In 2011 we said goodbye to horrible dictators Bin Amin, Mubarak, Gaddafi, and Kim Jong Ill (in his case, fate intervened more than protests did). Osama Bin Laden also faced an inevitable conclusion. Great social change came in the form of New York’s decision to allow gay marriage and the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Mitt Romney will probably be the Republican nominee against Obama, meaning that there won’t be a WASP candidate for the first time in American history. And Americans finally started to wake up and form “Occupy” protests that are the first sincere protest movement this country has had in forty years.

2011 can’t be so easily dismissed when worldwide protests toppled a handful of dictatorships and forecasts gradual social change in the United States as well. It should be a year to remember instead of forget, and respect should be paid to that. The world got a lot brighter in 2011, whether its citizens realize it or not.