Farewell, 2013: It wasn't all bad

It’s easy to say good riddance to 2013.

After all, most of the big memories of the year are bad ones: A horrible typhoon in the Philippines that killed at least 6,000 people, the heart-wrenching bomb attack at the Boston Marathon, the unsettling news that the National Security Agency has been keeping tabs on more than just terrorists, the equally unsettling news that one unstable gentleman named Edward Snowden was able to single-handedly cripple America’s intelligence operations, the harrowing use of chemical weapons in Syria in a war that has already killed more than 120,000 people, not to mention the mind-altering image of singer Miley Cyrus teaching the whole world to “twerk” at the Video Music Awards.

And that doesn’t even include the Oct. 1 rollout of Obamacare! No matter what you think of the idea of government-mandated health insurance, there can be no disagreement about one thing — the government thus far has handled it about as badly as could be expected.

But let’s not throw out the whole year without stopping to save — and savor — some of the best memories of 2013.

How about Malala Yousafzai? Don’t recognize the name yet? Someday you will. She’s the 16-year-old Pakistani girl who was shot in the head by the Taliban in October 2012 because she was promoting the idea of education for Muslim girls. She overcame the odds and has recovered to continue as an activist for women’s rights in Pakistan and the world.

On her 16th birthday in July, she spoke at the United Nations on “Malala Day.” If you need inspiration to see the good in the world, read this young woman’s story.

Here’s another one, hot off the presses. Las Vegas cabbie Gerardo Gamboa found $300,000 in a paper bag in his taxi after dropping off a passenger. Without hesitation, Gamboa called the find in to his dispatcher, and the transit company was able to return the money to a 28-year-old professional poker player who somehow had more important things on his mind when he left the cab!

“My dignity is not for sale, and that’s the way I am. That’s the way our parents taught us when I was a kid,” Gamboa said later.

Also deserving of a reward are the voters of New York City, who finally showed disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner the door.

Weiner finished in a humiliating fifth place in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor after being forced to admit that he had never actually given up the vile Internet sexting behavior that had cost him his legislative career in the first place! We don’t often get to say it, but, “Go, Big Apple!”

Speaking of going — as in going away — we note that in the waning days of the year, teen heartthrob Justin Bieber announced on Twitter that he is “officially retiring” from the music industry at the tender age of 19. We will have to wait to see if he is able to live up to that momentous promise, but if so, we hope that he can convince Miley Cyrus to join him in retirement next year.

Now that would certainly get 2014 off to a good start!

**Courtesy of the Daily Inter Lake.