A Year of Disillusionment

2023 is already a flop

The New Year marks a time for reinvention with an onslaught of hopeful resolutions that end up shattered into shiny, jagged pieces before the start of February. Picking up those pieces stings just as much as watching them fall – yet we do it to ourselves every year in hopes of a modicum of self-improvement. 

Contemplating the new year comes with assessing the last – and a recap of 2022 is overwhelmingly negative. COVID-19, the Russian and Ukrainian War, staggering inflation, over 153 school shootings in the United States and increasing political polarization are just a few of the many horrors and tragedies we faced last year. 

Looking back at 2022, I worry about what this year has in store for us. These are all problems that bleed into 2023, which seems so far to be yet another year of chaos. 

As much as we would like to ignore it, COVID-19 remains omnipresent. After coming back from break, we’ll likely see another uptick in cases at Santa Clara. There is no way to leave the virus behind in 2023, as cases will continue to rise and we simultaneously ignore the effects. 

The war between Russia and Ukraine remains at the forefront of the media, especially now that countries are picking sides by sending resources to the country they support. We are in the trenches of a war that will, it seems, continue to spiral out of control. Depressingly, public perception is a dissonant mix of reductionary infographics and cynical memes poking fun at the possibility of World War III and nuclear warfare.

Economists warn of an upcoming recession. As the cost of everyday expenses continues to rise, how will people continue their standard of living? The varying opinions on the matter make it worse; some say the US will avoid it, some say a short recession will occur and others fear a long and severe economic downturn. 

And what better way to start off this new year than with flooding and power outages? In California, rare and disastrous weather conditions are destroying homes and lives. But at least we’re relieving the extreme drought, right? Wrong! California is in a state of both drought and flood as storage reservoirs remain below average despite the immense rainfall from the atmospheric river above California. 

We reached a new low for school shootings with a 6-year-old boy shooting his teacher in the first week of the new year. School shootings have continued to increase over the past few years, suggesting that we’ll be seeing more shootings as 2023 unfolds. 

To battle gun violence, Oregon voted into law reasonable gun legislation in the hopes of minimizing the loss of life through school shootings and inexperienced gun handling. Disappointingly, the law was temporarily blocked by Judge Robert Raschio, who stated that it violated the state’s constitutional right to bear arms. The chances of the legislation surviving the court system is slim to none. 

Recently, the Speaker of the House of Representatives was voted in, sparking a political fiasco as the world watched Kevin McCarthy lose 14 times. This is a prime example of the almost hilarious theater of Capitol Hill, calling into question the motives and ability of McCarthy – and whether his own party trusts his capacity to serve as Speaker. This continues the trend of increasing polarization and dysfunction within the Republican Party and American politics as a whole. 

I acknowledge that my view is certainly jaded by the ever-pessimistic news that headlines every major news source. There indeed were many good things in 2022, from the Wordle craze to an international agreement to mitigate and oppose nature loss. Yet, if you were to ask me, “What words sum up 2022?” My response would be, “A mess of epic proportions.” 

While the year is already off to a terrifying start, I still want to believe that things will get better – that the world isn’t a grim place hellbent on kicking us down closer to rock bottom. So, let’s clean up the pieces of our New Year’s resolutions and take it one day at a time. 

The future isn’t predictable, which makes change even scarier. However, the steps we’re taking toward making the world a better place could signify that there’s hope, despite the year’s rocky start.