The end of the calendar year is fast approaching. As the final question of the year, we ask: How do you feel about 2025?
Share why if you wish.
Asking — and answering — life's interesting questions
The end of the calendar year is fast approaching. As the final question of the year, we ask: How do you feel about 2025?
Share why if you wish.
If you watch the headlines, it’s been a depressing year, full of suffering. Our democratic institutions are crumbling before our eyes.
However, for me personally, it’s actually been a pretty good year. My health is good, I enjoy my day job, I have fulfilling relationships with friends. Other than minor annoyances, there’s not much bad to talk about.
It’s difficult for me to reconcile these two situations.
My home life with Rebecca and Luca is filled with love. Travels were special — a week-long visit with Lee and Marsha and Christmas week on an island in Mexico. I read a ton. I was proud of what I accomplished as a housing justice advocate. And my garden produced a lot of nutritious food. An end-of-the-year physical says that, as best as my doc can tell, I am in good physical health. While I’ve been to my therapist multiple times (which I guess is a good thing), and my mental health med doc tinkered with my meds, I had fewer panic attacks this year. And while I still hate the anxiety and some side effects I experience, I have to admit 2025 was a year of fewer flare-ups. So my mental health, while rarely where I want it to be, is better than in previous years. Personally, 2025 was a good year.
That said, the pain and suffering I witnessed, studied, and fought against as an advocate for housing justice tears me up inside. Some things I’ve worked for throughout my 28-year career have been dismantled or severely damaged within less than a year. Our federal government seems filled with “leaders” who couldn’t care less about the plight of the poor or those who have always been the targets of the far right — i.e., those who should be covered by diversity, equity, and inclusion, but our president has outlawed their stories being told. Meanwhile, billions of dollars are being funneled to those who already have more than enough. While people have taken to the streets and worked to defend their neighbors who are in the crosshairs of this Administration, there’s no denying it: America possesses fewer of its lofty ideals than it has had in the past. In this respect, 2025 has been terrible.
In 2026, may we continue to protect our neighbors and vulnerable strangers alike. May protests and the defense of the rights to free speech and assembly continue. And may we wake up to the fact that, by funneling money to billionaires, we are starving our ability to accomplish more worthwhile things.