I've figured out my 20 favorite songs of this past year, which I'll start posting in the coming days on my social media outlets. It's a list that's tinged, no doubt, by the events of 2016.
In the meantime, I gave myself a writing challenge to refer to the song titles or snippets of lyrics from ALL 20 songs in 200 words. Oh, and the sentences had to end up coherent. Here's what I got, with the references displayed in bold ...
I didn’t want it darker. I had high hopes for 2016. Instead, it’s mostly been a maddening year, a low-flying panic attack of sorts.
It’s a year in which the world seems tilted in the wrong direction, like a large portion of we the people made a mistake, lost our minds and elected a guy who’s off his rocker. I fear we’ve beached on rock, having thought that it was land. My usual optimism is getting away from me; I wish they had an app for that.
Good grief, as I cast about my options, it’s harder to go on like we are kids, ignoring the bigger world. But I’m not sure how I take this passion about what’s happening and turn it into action. It’s tempting to rage, but ultimately, nothing but love is the drug of healing.
As we trudge through December’s long nights, when it gets late so early now, my hope is that the new year will rise from the wreckage of 2016, like Lazarus. Meantime, let’s stop the noise that comes from our screens, take breaks and try to make the best of what's bad. .
Above all, what a strange, strange world we live in.