Looking Back
Since we are coming to the end of 2013, let us take a backward look at memorable events of the year. These events are things that memories are made of.
The weather was eventful, when a tornado struck Moore, Oklahoma, on May 20, killing 23 people and injuring 377 others. A blizzard smacked the Northeastern United States in February, killing at least one person, leaving hundreds of thousands without power and disrupting thousands of flights. Then there were the most destructive wildfires in Colorado history. Winter Snow Storm Nemo dropped massive snow on the New England States. There were record rainfalls across the USA, which led to flooding.
We lost the good and a bad in 2013. Former South African President Nelson Mandela, Joyce Brothers, Astronaut Scott Carpenter, Navy SEAL Sniper Chris Kyle, Computer Mouse Inventor Doug Engelbart, Psychiatrist William Glasser, Snowmobile Freestyler Caleb Moore, Baseball Hall of Famer Stan Musial, Heavyweight champion Ken Norton, Notorious Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, The “Iron Lady” of British Politics Margaret Thatcher, Actors Joan Fontaine, Annette Funicello, James Gandolfini, Cory Monteith, Peter O’Toole, Jean Stapleton, Paul Walker, Esther Williams, Jonathan Winters, and Lee Thompson Young, Journalist David Frost, and Helen Thomas, Singers Eydie Gormé, George Jones, Mindy McCready, and Patti Page… and let us never forget the brave soldiers who died serving our country. These and others will be remembered.
Making headlines during 2013 was the widespread criticism of the sheer incompetence of the Obamacare presentation by the president and his staff, compounded by the federal government’s health care insurance website disaster, with long delays, glitches and high error rates… And, as if that was not enough, the U.S. government began a partial shutdown on October 1, potentially putting up to 1 million workers on unpaid leave, closing national parks and stalling medical research projects. The shutdown was in effect for an uneasy 16 days… The city of Detroit went bankrupt, and the average American blue-collar worker, faced diminished real wages… Paula Deen was accused of racism, Brittany Spears made a comeback, and Miley Cyrus showed us how to “twerk” with our tongue out… North Korean conducted its third underground nuclear test, in seven years, scaring their neighbors… Edward Snowden leaked top-secret U.S. and British government mass surveillance programs details to the press, and is now seeking asylum from U.S. prosecution in Russia… And, during the Boston Marathon on April 15, two pressure cooker bombs exploded, killing 3 people and injuring an estimated 264 others… The skeleton of King Richard III was found at an excavation site where a church once stood in Leicester, England on Feb. 4… And speaking of Royalty, Britain’s Prince William and his wife Kate, Duchess of Cambridge welcomed a baby boy on July 22. The newborn, formally named George Alexander Louis on July 24, will be known as His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge, Kensington Palace.
Yes, the weather was sometimes frightful, the news sometimes horrific and bizarre, but we all lived through it to begin the year 2014 with hope and faith for a healed nation, better leadership, improved weather patterns, more wealth and good health. Wishing you a very HAPPY and BLESSED NEW YEAR!
