Touching Video: 2011’s Most Memorable Moments

GOOD Magazine condenses the entire year into 104 seconds.

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It’s the most wonderful (and wistful) time of the year. A keen sense of nostalgia abounds a the year that’s nearly clocked out. While old acquaintance certainly shouldn’t be forgot, 2011 has seen a striking share of newsworthy events. Wrapping one’s head around the year 2011 is a tall order. Populist uprisings and societal milestones propelled us ever higher, while natural disasters and tragic deaths caused us to step back and reflect on our own humanity.

This year saw a 24-hour news cycle with countless events of historic importance that it’s impossible to commemorate it all in one video. But using a few key labels, GOOD Magazine managed to measure the year based around the question “What will you remember?” And it’s packaged neatly into 104 seconds with a refreshingly optimistic bent. Despite the crises of the year, it is indeed possible to reflect without anger. Below are the six monikers GOOD used to mark the most major headlines of the past 12 months.

(PHOTOS: Top 10 Images of 2011)

Protest: Both home and abroad, facing guns and pepper spray, it was truly a year of the people. Uprisings culminated in deposed (and dead) autocrats, and citizens eager to replace them with newfound democracies.

Tragedy: Striking from the sea and from the sky, Mother Nature showed her fury this year. A double-whammy earthquake and tsunami devastated northern Japan. An EF-5 tornado ripped through the town of Joplin, Mo.

Loss: Artistic, technological and cultural legends passed away, though their legacies will remain forever.

Progress: Equality for all has never been truer with the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and legalization of gay marriage in New York.

Celebration: Deposing dictators and taking down terrorists was a cause for revelry in squares the world over.

Hope: Despite (or perhaps because of) all the year’s newsworthy happenings, we’ve emerged with a stronger sense that anything is possible.

May 2012 be equally as interesting – though we journalists would appreciate a bit of a break.

LIST: Top 10 World News Stories of 2011

It’s the most wonderful (and wistful) time of the year. A keen sense of nostalgia abounds a the year that’s nearly clocked out. While old acquaintance certainly shouldn’t be forgot, 2011 has seen a striking share of newsworthy events. Wrapping one’s head around the year 2011 is a tall order. Populist uprisings and societal milestones propelled us ever higher, while natural disasters and tragic deaths caused us to step back and reflect on our own humanity.

This year saw a 24-hour news cycle with countless events of historic importance that it’s impossible to commemorate it all in one video. But using a few key labels, GOOD Magazine managed to measure the year based around the question “What will you remember?” And it’s packaged neatly into 104 seconds with a refreshingly optimistic bent. Despite the crises of the year, it is indeed possible to reflect without anger. Below are the six monikers GOOD used to mark the most major headlines of the past 12 months.

(PHOTOS: Top 10 Images of 2011)

Protest: Both home and abroad, facing guns and pepper spray, it was truly a year of the people. Uprisings culminated in deposed (and dead) autocrats, and citizens eager to replace them with newfound democracies.

Tragedy: Striking from the sea and from the sky, Mother Nature showed her fury this year. A double-whammy earthquake and tsunami devastated northern Japan. An EF-5 tornado ripped through the town of Joplin, Mo.

Loss: Artistic, technological and cultural legends passed away, though their legacies will remain forever.

Progress: Equality for all has never been truer with the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and legalization of gay marriage in New York.

Celebration: Deposing dictators and taking down terrorists was a cause for revelry in squares the world over.

Hope: Despite (or perhaps because of) all the year’s newsworthy happenings, we’ve emerged with a stronger sense that anything is possible.

May 2012 be equally as interesting – though we journalists would appreciate a bit of a break.

LIST: Top 10 World News Stories of 2011