Powerful Events That Marked 2014 Shown In 37 Unforgettable Images

This is the last day of 2014. Before we start to party and make a list of your New Year’s Resolutions, we need to take a minute to step back and reflect on the events that happened this year. Looking upon our individual past actions will serve as guidelines for each of us to make better choices in the future, so the year ahead will be better, happier and more fulfilling.

Aside from personal improvement, there are other events and actions we need to remember, not just for our sake, but for the sake of our families, our country and our world. Reflecting upon the major global events of 2014 will become obvious to anyone that it has been a year of great turmoil and struggle. Each nation has had its share of conflicts and obstacles it needed to overcome.

While remembering all the good moments give us hope for more of the same in the future, it is more important to remember the bad moments, no matter how painful they might be, because those are the moments that will help bring change faster and give us a brighter future, if we only wish to accept them and do something to change them.

For that reason, we made this small list of all the most powerful 2014 global events to help us remember the good and the bad.

1. The Holi Festival of Colours In Barcelona, Spain where special colored powders are thrown in the air, April 6, 2014.

2. People running away from waves caused by a tidal bore surge past a barrier on the banks of Qiantang River, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province Aug. 13

3. Separated Family Reunion Meeting at Diamond Mountain in North Korea, February 25, 2014 . The farewell after the first reunion of North and South Koreans in more than three years.

4. Nairobi, Kenya, on May 20. Hundreds of university students faced with a riot police as they protested against proposed increase in school fee in downtown Nairobi

5. An artic blast of cold winter air on January 5, 2014, in St. Louis

6. January 31, 2014, Residents of the besieged Palestinian camp of Yarmouk, queuing to receive food supplies, in Damascus, Syria

7. Ultra-Orthodox Jewish boys climb down a wall near the scene of a suspected attack in Jerusalem on August 4, 2014

8. Smoldering debris from Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in a Ukraine field on July 17, 2014

9. Pro-democracy demonstrators clash with police officers in riot gear during a rally near the Hong Kong government headquarters on Sept. 28

10. The June 27 lava flow from the Kilauea Volcano moves along the ground Oct. 28, in Pahoa, Hawaii.

11. Protesters are taken away by police officers after hundreds of them staged peaceful sit-ins overnight on a street in the financial district in Hong Kong on July 2

12. Mount Sinabung spews hot lava and volcanic ash as it is seen from Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia, October 9. The 2,460-metre volcano had been dormant for 400 years before it erupted in August 2010

13. Members of the Castellers Joves Xiquets de Valls try to complete their human tower during the 25th Human Tower Competition in Tarragona, Spain on October 5.

14. Smoke from Israeli air strikes in the east of Gaza City on July 29

15. Actor Shia LaBeouf wears a paper bag over his head reading “I am not famous anymore” as he arrives for the screening of Nymphomaniac Volume I at the 64th Annual Berlin Film Festival, in Berlin, Germany, February 9

16. Men rescue a boy after activists said forces loyal to Syria’s President Bashar Al-Assad dropped explosive barrels in Aleppo on April 6

17. A Doctors Without Borders MSF health worker in protective clothing carriesa child suspected of having Ebola in the MSF-treatment center on Oct.5 in Paynesville, Liberia

18. The Independence Square in Kiev, Ukraine during clashes between anti-government protesters, Interior Ministry members, and riot police on February 19

19. Children affected by the civil war in Syria push a cart with water containers along a damaged street March 11, 2014.

20. Bayern Munich’s supporters cheer during their Champions League soccer match against AS Roma at the Olympic stadium in Rome on October 21

21.  The world’s shortest man, Chandra Bahadur Dangi, greets the tallest living man, Sultan Kosen, to mark Guinness World Records Day in London, November 13

22. Students play in their school yard as Mount Sinabung erupts in Sukandebi, North Sumatra, Indonesia January 16, 2014

23. Umbrellas are opened as tens of thousands come to the main protest site one month after the Hong Kong police used tear gas to disperse protesters on October 28

24. At least 100 villages across the Kashmir valley flooded by overflowing lakes and rivers in Srinagar, India, September 4.

25. Local women watch armed men, believed to be Russian soldiers, assemble near a Ukrainian military base in Perevalnoe on March 5, 2014

26. Flowers on Robin Williams’ Hollywood Walk of Fame star on August 12 in Los Angeles, California

27. Ferguson, Missouri, on November 25 during demonstrations a day after violent protests and looting following the grand jury decision in the fatal shooting of a 18-year-old black teenager Michael Brown

28. A priest speaks through a megaphone to riot police and anti-government protesters at the site of recent clashes in Kiev, on February 12, 2014

29. Firefighters battling the King Fire watch as a backfire burns along Highway 50 in Fresh Pond, California,September 16.

30. 9 July FIFA World Cup, Brazilian Fan cries after Germany defeats Brazil in the semi-finals, score 7:1. Named “the saddest man in Brazil”, Clovis Acosta Fernandez gave the World Cup replica to a German fan.

31. A man beats a police officer lying on the ground during a protest in reprisal for the killing of 43 trainee teachers, in Acapulco on November 10

32. A die-in was held at Harvard Medical School Education Center on International Human Rights Day on December 10.

33. A hostage runs to armed tactical response police officers for safety after she escaped from a cafe under siege at Martin Place in the central business district of Sydney, Australia, December 15

34. Beyoncé performs onstage at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards at The Forum on August 24, in Inglewood, California

35. Most Reverend Gerald F. Kicanas, Bishop of Tucson, offers communion to people on the Mexican side of the international border, Tuesday, April 1, 2014, in Nogales, Ariz to bring awareness to immigration reform and to remember those who have died trying to cross the border in years past.

36. More than 6 feet of lake-effect snow was dumped in the Buffalo, N.Y, November 19

37. Britain’s Queen Elizabeth walks through a field of ceramic poppies that form part of the art installation “Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red” in London on October 16

These are just a fraction of what happened around the world. Let’s make sure 2015 is filled with more positive than negative events. Happy New Year.

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