You periodically hear people say a certain year was a good year for movies, music, local or worldwide human rights, environmental progress, medical advances, sports…. whatever. I’m not saying nothing good happened in 2025, but whatever it may have been is not coming to this American’s mind. Any nominees?
I suppose if one’s political leanings were quite different than mine, one might say it was a good year for striking back against “wokeness” or something else appreciating US actions under Trump. Of course, from my perspective, that would not be a positive.
Eager to hear of positives - however broad or narrow - either locally, from America, or abroad.
This might be too narrow, but 2025 was a good year for my medical health. Identified a handful of ongoing issues that are trending up in their treatment.
A good year for no major hurricanes making landfall in the US.
If it’s a good year for AI, I’d like someone to explain precisely what AI is going to do for us, other than exacerbate global warming and drive up electricity rates.
It was a good year for Republicans in general and for Trump in particular. He was able to take power away from Congress, and the Supreme Court allowed it. Even though his ratings plummeted, he continued to dismantle the federal government, get rid of anyone in government who disagreed with him, and replace them with willing sycophants—it was a good year for Trump, a bad year for the democratic system.
OP was looking for positives, there weren’t many. Your post might be better suited to another companion thread. If you start one please link, I have lots to add.
There was a major HIV drug approved this year that puts us a lot closer to an HIV cure or vaccine. I’ll have to go digging for details. I believe down to 2 shots a year for many people though.
There was a commercial moon mission this year, if you’re a spacenut that’s exciting.
Since the OP is also looking for positives from outside the US, Mark Carney became Prime Minister of Canada in March of 2025. Not going to get into politics here, but at one point it was a virtual certainty that the Conservatives would win, but there were drastic changes in circumstances.
So from this side of the border, we’re happy with the leadership of a very experienced thoughtful individual, a seasoned expert in global finance, who was not only the former governor of the Bank of Canada, but also of the Bank of England, and successfully led it through the challenges of Brexit and COVID. I could not wish for a better Prime Minister right now.
Given the political situation, it pains me a great deal to admit that my portfolio (managed by others…not me) increased in value by over 31% from the beginning of the year. But it also makes me feel sort of dirty.
I think it was a good year for the end of the beginning of the global neo-fascist movement. It is becoming clear to more people that it is unsustainable; weaknesses are starting to show. Please note I didn’t say the beginning of the end but the end of the beginning; I think that we still have years of suffering ahead of us, but at least more people are starting to see the danger.
Yeah - but some people might view those as positives. I wasn’t trying to restrict respondents to folk sharing my particular point of view.
AI is an interesting suggestion. AI has certainly flourished. I share BobLibDem’s dubiousness as to the societal benefit of that growth. But many folk apparently think it “a good thing.”
I know we’re writing about macro highlights. Yet the continued existence of our website seems most beneficial to me. I’ve got plenty of beneficial relationships in real life but this site makes them a little bit better.
Well, very good for me. Retired, bought a great new house.
We doubled our living space. But my Wife and I are aware that we will both be home more. And while we do a ton of stuff together, we still need out own space.
I hoping to know in a week if it was a good year or not for me.
Positives: Visited France & London with my wife. Saw Hadestown while in London. Also a wonderful 4 days at Doylestown, PA really exploring the area. Spoilers, great area and fun walking town.
Negatives: Prostate Cancer, but caught early and treated in a minimally invasive way. Jan 2 is the all important PSA test to see if the treatments worked, so if they did, overall 2025 would have to be a good year for me.
It was a good year for community organizing in quite a lot of places, I think. Much of this was in reaction to (hopefully) short term disasters; but I have hope that we’ll see long term benefits from it.