Any rating system of the worst and best times in 2023 is a challenge. As a preamble, let me start with this warning: Two of Motown Record’s principal songwriters and frequent collaborators, Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong, wrote the song "War" recorded in 1969 by The Temptations and Edwin Starr among others, which told us, “War, what is it good for? Absolutely nothin!”

Regional conflicts threaten us all with wider wars, if not total annihilation. With that hyperbolic tidbit as a backdrop, here is an admittedly incomplete list of the worst and best of 2023. You can rank them, adding or subtracting as you see fit.

Worst (W) and best (B) of 2023 in no order of importance:

1. (W) DJT (AKA Trump) – He is a mendacious insurrectionist, indicted, old and, yes, bad for us all.

2. (B) JRB (AKA Biden) – Under him, the economy improved, climate crisis recognized, infrastructure funded, but, yes, too old.

3. (W) Borders – Gaza, Eagle Point, Texas, or any other border in the world being inundated by unwanted hordes walking miles, wading rivers for the greener grass on the other side.

4. (B) Economy – Almost every economic indicator from GDP to job creation, to unemployment rate, to inflation indices, etc., is positive.

5. (W) Wars – Dominating the headlines, sowing chaos everywhere from Ukraine to Gaza and countries around the world. Do you know why, because I sure don’t?

6. (B) Health – The surge in health care remedies should be comforting to us all. Recent new discoveries and illness curative breakthroughs throughout the world offer sustained health and longevity.

7. (B) & (W) AI – The rise of artificial intelligence is both a boon and disaster for our world’s citizens if not controlled.

Don't get me started on the ages of our leading antagonists for US presidents. However, the second younges US president, John F. Kennedy, said in his inagural speech, "Let the word go forth from this time and place to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans ..." I only wish we would be hearing similar words at the next presidential inauguration.

Just because we toil in a maligned and misunderstood industry, meat and poultry, we cannot think we are immune from being affected by 2023 events and dominating personalities — because we will be.

Immigration will be an overarching issue in the next election cycle. How can it not be, with thousands crossing our southern border every day seeking asylum? No workable solutions have been offered by any presidential candidate, incumbent or Congress. That leaves only hyperbole. This is an issue which directly affects our industry. We have not and cannot operate our processing facilities without immigrant labor.

This past year, wars ruled the headlines implying wider conflagrations, which could more directly involve us. From Ukraine to Gaza to other Middle East hotspots, wars, large and small, are being waged. The body bags keep getting filled and mass graves dug for combatants and innocent civilians alike.

By almost any measure, our economy has recovered from the largest trade deficits in US history incurred during the previous administration caused by their misunderstanding of how international trade works (Source: Forbes, Jan. 14, 2021).

However, you would think that because of the recent economic resurgence alone, approval ratings of the current administration would be positive, if not trending upward, but they are not. They are some of the lowest in history. In December 2023, Forbes reported that dissatisfaction with immigration, inflation, climate change, jobs, unemployment and transportation were the reasons listed for Biden’s low approval ratings.

Because of that, “it’s the economy, stupid,” will be resurrected from the 1992 presidential election cycle. But that won’t be the most loudly shouted rhetoric. Rather, it will be what to do about our borders. Maybe artificial intelligence can solve that one, too.

Is the answer to all the problems and opportunities we face, “Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition,” or “Give me liberty or give me death”? There must be a better alternative.

The worst and best of 2023 is now behind us, but the ramifications are not. We are in for a bumpy ride in 2024 — all culminating on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. Choose wisely, my friends.

2023: The worst of times, the best of times

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