The Almost Fatal Year of 2017 and the Hope of 2018

It's hard to believe. The year 2017 is finally over, and we're still here. 

But although just about everyone I know seems to heaving a giant sight of relief, and declaring that 2017 was a REALLY bad year.

I think some really good things happened during its brief reign.

Even though it was the year when I was almost killed.



Not far from one of my favourite boyhood places, when my motorcycle hit a patch of black ice in the Scottish highlands.

And I went flying through the air, narrowly missing a massive tree and a sturdy fence, before crashing into a farmer's field.

But although I had to spend two days in hospital, another week in bed at home, and more than two months going to rehab when I got back to Canada, I now feel what happened was a valuable life experience.



Which taught me more about the suffering of others, made me appreciate nurses even more than I already did, and made me a stronger and hopefully wiser person than I was before.

Which is exactly the same way I feel about some of 2017's big political stories.

In Canada, the Cons got a chance to renew themselves, after ten years of Harperism, and failed miserably...



Choosing the religious fanatic Andrew Scheer, who was only elected with the support of anti-abortion and anti-gay candidates like Brad Trost and Pierre Lemieux.

While Justin Trudeau stood up for the rights of women and LGBT Canadians like no Prime Minister before him...



And despite the relentless attack of our shameful Con media, ended the year as popular as ever.

And then there was Donald Trump, the bellowing orange elephant in the room, or the monster in the window...



The man who never should have been President...



The one who has many Americans regretting their fatal choice.

Especially since interviews like the one with the New York Times the other day, keep raising questions about whether Trump is mentally fit to remain in office... 



And I'm pretty confident it's only a matter of time before most sane Americans conclude he isn't, and work to defeat him, or remove him from office.

There were other good news stories to celebrate as well.

Aboriginal Canadians are now firmly on the political agenda. Alternative sources of energy are growing cheaper and more popular. 

The U.N. recently announced that extreme poverty is expected to be eradicated within the next decade, so hopefully and probably for the first time ever, all humans will have enough to eat. 

The #METOO movement gave a huge boost to women's rights.

And in Australia same-sex marriage was put to a referendum... 



And love won.

So there is reason for hope.

And a lot to look forward to in 2018

And yes, if I had been in Edinburgh last night, this is how I would have celebrated my survival.

By running after 2018 and shouting " Hey don't leave me behind!"



Thank you for reading this blog, and contributing to it with your comments.

And Happy New Year everybody !!!