With all its heartaches and pain, earthquakes, storms, bomb blasts, migrant crises, 2015 did have some glowing moments which lend hope to the future and bode well for the global community, showing that just like in fairy tales, in real life too, good prevails over evil.
1. The Climate Change Agreement. If you’re concerned about the future of the human race, this was perhaps the greatest achievement of the year, and the most unifying. For the first time, all countries in the world signed a legally binding commitment to put an end to ‘the fossil-fuel era’, pledging to reduce their carbon output to keep earth from warming more than 2 degrees.
2. Angela Merkel gave the world a lesson in humanitarian values. Germany opened its doors to migrants from war-torn Syria while other European nations wasted time in procrastination. For her positive, assertive leadership of Europe throughout this year, Merkel won Time magazine’s coveted ‘Person of the Year’ award.
3. The world acquired another leader who shows promise of being ‘a man for all seasons’. Justin Trudeau has ushered Canada into the New Age. The recently elected Prime Minister announced a cabinet that is more gender-balanced and racially diverse than ever before, reason being, as he put it simply, “because it’s 2015”.
4. China lifted its one-child policy rule. A landmark decision by the government which will positively affect millions of families in the country. In place since 1979, the draconian law prevented an estimated 400 million births, a huge number of them gender-based abortions. China has the highest ratio of boys to girls 100/120, more than any other country in the world.
5. In September this year, the Palestinian cause finally got some vindication when the Palestinian flag was hoisted at the UN headquarters after a speech by President Mahmoud Abbas. A move that was opposed by Israel and its allies, the ceremony was celebrated by all people across the world who are certain there can never be global peace until the Middle East crisis is resolved.