The year 2016 was a mess: rough weather, flooding, bomb threats, lawsuits, ugly politics, the loss of good citizens, and business that was OK, but not so wonderful that it overshadowed the year’s difficulties.
It was, in many respects, like the year before and the year before that. With the arrival of each new year, the downsides of the previous ones remain painfully fresh, while the good, as Shakespeare observed in “Julius Caesar, “is oft interred with their bones.”
But the “good,” as it were, is the foundation on which the new year is constructed, while the negative tends to diminish as other circumstances redirect the community’s attention elsewhere.
In Berlin, for instance, a fairly rough election by that town’s standards left no permanent scars and the town again appears ready to embrace an ambitious agenda. It won’t accomplish it all, as the town likes to think big, but that is surely better than doing little and expecting less.
Meanwhile, Ocean Pines experienced what was nearly a political and managerial purge. Even as this upheaval continues, however, the community association’s board of directors is doing something, rather than spending months arguing about what it ought to do. It’s still early in the game, but the results have been positive so far, although the final assessment awaits the rollout of the annual financial statement.
Both Pocomoke and Snow Hill endured extreme weather, with washouts and flooding, as well as other difficulties over the year, but continue to move in the right direction with downtown promotions and other marketing efforts aimed at improving their respective economies.
So, yes, 2016 wasn’t the superlative 12-month period that everyone hoped for when it debuted, just as the hopes for 2017 will likely exceed the results. Still, even though that foundation of good things last year didn’t generate as many headlines as the negative events, they have more of a lasting effect than the setbacks, which eventually will just fade away.