everyothernameitriedwastaken:

… and many people will say, ‘2014 went so fast’, ‘what, it’s 2015 already?, it was like 2008 yesterday’

But so many important things happened this year

(Ukraine, February, 2014)

So many important things

(Hong Kong Umbrella Riots, September 2014)

in which people united

(Ferguson, USA, August 2014)

to stand up for justice

(Malala wins the Nobel Peace Prize, December 2014)

to stand up for what they believe in

(Beyonce’s Feminist performance at the VMAs, August 2014)

a year when millions of us took to twitter to campaign against inequality

(YesAllWomen tweeted 1.2 million times in 2014 in response to NotAllMen)

(Eric Garner’s last words have been named ‘most notable quote of the year’, December 2014)

a year when we remembered those who fell in years past

(Poppies at the Tower of London mark 100 years since WWI, November 2014)

and paused to remember what once divided us

(25 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall)

we also mourned many more recent loses

(Flight MH17 is shot down over Ukraine, 298 people die, June 2014)

(Michael’s Browns family at his Funeral, August 2014)

(Flowers are laid in Sydney after two hostages die at hands of gunman, December 2014)

(Memorial for the 141 students and teachers killed in a terrorist attack on their school in Peshawar, Pakistan, December 2014)

(Ebola kills 7,373 and counting in Western Africa, 2014)

and prayed for those who are still missing

(Flight MH370 went missing, with 239 people on board, March 2014)

(219 school girls taken by Islamist extremist group Boko Haram remain missing, Nigeria, April 2014)

(43 students missing in Mexico are feared dead, November 2014)

But we cannot give up hope

(Gay marriage is legalised in Finland, one of many places to legalise it this year, December 2014)

(Protester in Thailand adopt Hunger Games Salute, October 2014)

(Laverne Cox is Glamour Woman of the Year in a groundbreaking first for Trans women)

nor the courage to say what we need to say

(Emma Watson’s He for She speech at the UN, September 2014)

(Ellen Page admits she is gay in a tearful speech, February 2014)

So when people say, ‘Nothing happened this year’

(The Scottish people vote ‘No’ for independence from Great Britain)

Remind them what happened this year

(We landed a probe on a comet! Philae lands, November 2014)

(A Baby with HIV is cured after a breakthrough drug treatment, June 2014)

Because 2014 was a year that happened

(Ellen’s Oscar Selfie breaks twitter, March 2014)

We all lived through it

(Protests continue throughout New York against racist police brutality, December 2014)

and now we have to remember it

(Germany wins the world cup in Rio)

because forgetting would mean it meant nothing

when 2014 was important

remember that

Remember it for those who cannot remember it for themselves

(Robin Williams, 1951-2014)

(Michael Brown, 1996-2014)

(The 288 people, mostly students, who died in a ferry accident in South Korea, May 2014)

So we can look ahead to 2015, knowing we have made mistakes, but also growing as people and continuing to do what is right

I hope you all have a great holiday season and a happy new year in peace, but please remember all those on this list that didn’t make it through this year. Thank you.