Was 2008 that bad?

Seems like most reports I read about, and people I've spoken to, have the same "thank goodness 2008 is over" and "good riddance" type of theme about the year gone by. I think that doesn't do our dear friend oh-eight the right justice.

I, for one, think that 2008 was actually quite a good year. In fact, the first 9 months were pretty good in all aspects: it was an Olympic year, European Cup year, people were happy, things were looking good. It's only in the last 3 months that the financial turmoil happened with the failure of Lehman Brothers. However, human memory is short I guess and when you ask a person how they felt about something, the most recent memories are the ones that are the clearest.

But think about it a bit more and you'll realise that it was actually quite a good year.