At a lunch I attended earlier this month at a retirement community on the South Shore, the host began with a “Year in Review,” and I was reminded that I did something like this for the first time last year.  Why not do it again? There are other topics about which I’ve written repeat blog posts.

Although it’s hard to take the long view (human beings aren’t good at this), I feel bold enough to try doing just that.  So what were the major newsworthy events of 2017?  Here are my picks:

• Jan – Trump sworn in as 45th US president, world-wide Women’s March
• Feb – North Korea test-fires land-based KN-15 ballistic missile
• Mar – UN declares humanitarian crisis due to conflicts and refugees
• Apr – Opioid epidemic in US worsens
• May – Hackers promulgate ransomware cyberattack, FBI Director Comey fired
• Jun – US withdraws from climate agreement, anti-government protests in Venezuela
• Jul – Mosul wrested from ISIL, high-rise fire in London’s Grenfell Tower
• Aug – Total solar eclipse, Hurricane Harvey in Texas, violent rally in Charlottesville, Virginia
• Sep – Hurricanes Irma in Florida and Maria in Puerto Rico, Cassini spacecraft completes mission
• Oct – Las Vegas hotel shooter kills 59 and wounds many, contentious Catalan referendum
• Nov – Paradise Papers financial disclosures, Mugabe resigns as president of Zimbabwe
• Dec – #MeToo silence breakers are Time’s Person of Year, revised US tax code passed

When I review the list, I note that my events are either political or disasters.  Do human beings have a bias toward the negative?  Maybe next year, a la Bill Gates, I should compile a list of noteworthy positive events only!  Dear readers, have a safe and prosperous 2018.