Health & Fitness
A Retrospective by Dan Rosenberg
Headlight's Editor-in-Chief Dan Rosenberg reflects on the past year's events in Marblehead, the United States and the World.
It’s crazy to think that another school year has come to an end. As a society I think we’ve had one of the most trying years in recent memory. We all remember the heartache and sorrow caused by the Newtown Shooting, the Boston Marathon Bombing, and the Moore, Oklahoma Tornado. It’s really astounding how much we’ve been through as a community. But I think the more important thing to realize is that we’ve learned a lot about ourselves, as a unified group, through all of these hardships. In my opinion, we’re not defined by how we act on any given day, but on how we respond to unfathomable evil, to obstacles that are seemingly insurmountable. Whether we as a society give up, or whether we fight back. I think that more than anything this year we’ve seen the mettle and willpower of America.
There are many problems with our country. Unemployment is high, the government is in gridlock, and the divisions over almost every major issue are wide. But it’s heartening and inspiring to see that in the face of terror, America stands as one. There may be trying times ahead for America. The crisis in Iran may soon come to a head, and the outcome may be violent. The fighting in Syria is only getting worse, and with the introduction of chemical weaponry by the Syrian government the United States may soon have to act. The Muslim Brotherhood is imposing stricter, more conservative laws on the Arab nation of Egypt. Kim JongUn is still attempting to further North Korea’s nuclear program. But, even with all of these problems looming, I feel more confident than ever in the spirit of America. We’ve seen the worst tragedies we could imagine, and we’ve been knocked down, but we haven’t been knocked out. I think that’s the important thing to take from this year. No matter what happens, no matter our divisions over commonplace political issues, when push comes to shove, when our worst fears are realized, we will stand together. In an article earlier in the year, I mentioned a quote from Ben Franklin: “United we stand, divided we fall.” More than 200 years later, it still rings true.
