In Defense of the Year 2021

I feel bad for the year 2021 because almost everybody hates it. I understand that a lot of people had a bad 2021, but I don’t think it’s fair to blame 2021 for being such a bad year. It’s not 2021’s fault. Most of the bad stuff that happened in 2021 started in 2020 and maybe even before that.

I don’t want to call 2021 the WORST YEAR EVER because I know it was a good year for some people. My daughter, for example, had a great year. She graduated from high school, and now she’s thriving in college. She feels like she made the right choice in schools. She’s made a lot of new friends and is doing a bunch of stuff that she enjoys. I don’t want to belittle 2021 when it’s been such a great year for her.

2021 has been a pretty rough year for me, though. My stepdad died in April. My mom died in May. We had to put our dog to sleep in July. A good friend of mine died in October. My uncle died a few weeks ago. That’s a lot of loss in one year. Plus, there was a bunch of family turmoil, some caused by the deaths and some that was just normal stuff that happens in every family.

Even though several friends and family members died in 2021, their deaths were caused by stuff that had happened in previous years (or even previous decades), so I don’t want to scapegoat 2021 for everything bad that happened this year.

Don’t get me wrong; I believe in scapegoating, but I don’t like scapegoating powerless people or entities. 2021 can’t do much to defend itself. If I’m going to scapegoat, I’ll scapegoat the powerful. That’s why I like scapegoating the Ivy League.

I can make the case that most problems today were caused or made worse by somebody who went to an Ivy League school. Ivy Leaguers are powerful people. They can handle being scapegoated. A lot of Ivy Leaguers could have me murdered and get away with it. They could have me murdered and even wipe out any evidence that I had ever existed. That’s how powerful Ivy Leaguers are. They even brag about it. Attaining that kind of power is why they go to Ivy League schools in the first place.

I blame the Ivy League for everything bad that happened in 2021. I like to keep things simple like that. If you went to an Ivy League school, though, I’m not talking about you, and I’m not blaming you. There are always exceptions to stuff like scapegoating. Anybody who reads this blog is okay so that means you’re okay, unless you start leaving condescending comments about how everybody should be grateful for Ivy Leaguers.

Anyway, I’m kind of optimistic. 2022 could be a great year. If so, I’m not going to give sole credit to 2022. If 2022 is awesome, it will be partially because of stuff that happened in 2021, so I’ll want to give 2021 credit for the greatness that might be 2022. But if 2022 is awesome, I won’t give the Ivy League any credit for it. If the Ivy League has anything to do with a great 2022, it will be purely accidental. After all, the Ivy League sucks.