The Internet has unanimously agreed that 2016 was a pretty bad year. Most people have suggested that we pretend that it never even happened; maybe if we refuse to even say it’s name aloud, we can ignore everything that occurred. Maybe in the future, history books will skip from 2015 to 2017, and this ominous year will forever be known as “the-year-that-must-not-be-named.”

There were a lot of crazy moments in 2016. From Harambe to Trump’s infamous “CHINA” catch-phrase, it was a wild ride. Many tragedies struck the world; from the Pulse nightclub shooting to the Zika virus to the struggle in Syria, there were many moments where it seemed pretty hopeless. We lost some of the greats of our time like Muhammad Ali, David Bowie, Alan Rickman, Harper Lee, Prince, Carrie Fisher, and Debbie Reynolds. Overall, it looked pretty bleak for awhile there. But we made it through mostly okay, and now many are rejoicing that 2017 has arrived, hoping that it will somehow be a better year. Truthfully, the bar is pretty low, but there were a lot of good things that happened in 2016 that many of us overlooked. So while it’s alright to (desperately) hope that 2017 will be better, here’s some of the highest points of the past year.

– Teen birth rates decreased.
– The ozone layer is repairing itself!
– World hunger reached its lowest point in the last 25 years.
– Death by heart disease has decreased by 70% in the US.
– Many previously endangered species have increased in population, including tigers, grizzly bears, pandas, humpback whales, and manatees.
– Sea World stopped breeding captive killer whales.
– US relations with Cuba improved drastically.
– New Harry Potter books, movies, and plays were released!
– Leonardo DiCaprio won an Oscar, finally.
– A new Star Wars movie was released.
– The “bone apple teeth” meme was created.

Here’s to an even better 2017!