Top Five Things That DIDN’T Happen in 2012
“Even if we dodge the bullet this time, there’s another in the chamber just waiting.”
-Neil Wallace, Economist
Welcome to 2013. The internet is chock-full of “Best of” lists of things that happened in 2012, and that’s awesome. This year I decided to go the opposite direction because sometimes it’s equally powerful to be mindful (and thankful) for the bullets we dodged.
The Top Five Things That Didn’t Happen in 2012
FIVE: American Chopper Didn’t go Another Season
Intentionally still using the present tense, I love this show. I still love it because it went out the right way. I’ve watched it since the beginning; I will confess that I didn’t get hooked fully until Season Two when Discovery hit the balance between Father-and-Son bike building vs. bicker-battling.
However, around Senior vs. Junior things started to just get stale. At that point I was hungry for reconciliation, and they did eventually reconcile. Father and son restored their relationship (at least repaired) and decided that they shouldn’t really work together if they want to be a working family. Perfect. Though I would not be surprised if Paul Jr. Designs ends up on the air somewhere, or there’s the occasional special event, I’m glad the boys of OCC and PJD ended well. 
FOUR: Osama Bin Laden Didn’t Survive
I’m glad Bin Laden died that night. I don’t consider this a blood-thirsty statement. I’m glad he died because he threw the first (big) punch. I’m glad because, though his one life will never balance the thousands of lives taken or changed on 911, he signed his death warrant that day. I’m glad he died then because the media circus and political posturing that would have ensued if he was not swiftly dealt justice would have been horrific, unnecessary, dishonoring to the victims and hurtful to the survivors.
THREE: We Didn’t Get SOPA in Out Mouths
No, I do not fully understand the conglomeration of Tech and Legalese that are the SOPA and PIPA bills. Yes, I think stealing and selling other people’s art is just as wrong as if you did it with their car. But, I do not think these two bills were the answer. I do not believe that government is solely the answer; old men adjudicating on issues that they do not experience daily while working in line items that make our internet more like China’s? No thanks. It’s a shame Steve Jobs died. We could have gotten the computer super-brains a room at the 4 Seasons and said “Bill? Steve? Fix this online piracy thing over the weekend. America’ll pick up the room service and bar tab.” Done.
TWO: We Didn’t Make a New Media Monster
The shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary totally shook me. I keep having this image of a stash of Christmas presents that had been slowly building over the weeks (like I had been building) which would now never be opened. I posted something like being filled with “rage and revulsion.” That feeling stirs again as I type these words.
I didn’t want to find out more about the story. I wanted to avoid it, but that was impossible. Then, I started to recall things that I had read when researching the article on Loughner, like how the media attention is part of the motivation for these killings. Yes, the media has a right to get as much money as it can, and this story was a big seller. I will not say that the media was “only doing its job” because its job is to report, not sensationalize, the story. I had to do something, not so much because I truly thought that the media needed to stop scrabbling for more money, only because I wanted an alternate message to exist somewhere. Somewhere I wanted a kid in pain who was thinking “No one’s ever seen horror like this before? I bet I can beat it! Then I’ll be [insert unhealthy rationale]” to instead find a story about a person who changed the world in a positive way, gained media attention, and didn’t have to take life to do it.
The hash tag #LifeMaker was born to try only and counter the media barrage about the Sandy Hook Lifetaker. I also call him that so that I don’t publicize his name—something that Bundy adored. I found someone on the net that was positive and reposted their story every time I heard a Lifetaker story. Thankfully, for the families, there was a seeming break over Christmas.
Feel free to use the same #LifeMaker hashtag if you hear news of any killer, are equally upset, and don’t want to see copycat killings. The more attention we give them, the more risk we create for a repeat. After all, “I can do it bigger, better and faster” is the American Way.
ONE: The World Didn’t End
Are you reading this? Then the world didn’t end. I didn’t think it would, but I didn’t blather on about it on the interwebs since when I did that with Superstorm Sandy, she almost dropped a tree on my roof, dropped a telephone line behind my car and knocked out my power.
I just figured that the Mayan world already had ended so this was obviously a typo. Some people were pretty serious about it, though. The guy in the story I linked had quit his job and planned to live a survivalist life until the world ended so he could be part of the rebuilding effort. I wonder if some people burned out all of their sick time.
I’m glad the world didn’t end. As the Tick said “It’s where I keep all my stuff” and I’d like to have it around. Plus, it allows for more articles here in the future. I do have stuff planned. Articles on why I hate coping skills, people have asked for recipes of my wild, healthy concoctions, more posts about physical health change along with the mental and emotional…the list goes on.
Do you have any articles that you’d like to see? Just let me know.
2012 had its highs and lows, but it was a pretty fine year. 2013, bring on the “bigger, better, faster.” It’s the American Way.
