When we look back on 2016, what will our strongest memories be? What will we be most proud of? Or most ashamed?With half the year gone, can we say that 2016 has been successful so far, for the country and for us, its people?If the country were being judged on the past six months, we would be hard-pressed to find much to celebrate.Unemployment rose to 26.7% in the first quarter of this year - a loss of 355 000 jobs compared to the corresponding period in the previous year.That means that one in four South Africans is unemployed.Even worse, half of all young South Africans are without a job.And the education system, which many see as the answer to the devastating unemployment situation, is in crisis.More than 20 schools have been burned in protests and thousands of children will most likely have to repeat their school year as a result.Institutions of higher learning are counting the cost of violent student activism.Further education and training colleges are just bumbling along.And, as local government electioneering takes off, looting, bus-burning and murder have become commonplace.Racism is rife. Just consider the evidence from the past few days - a Sodwana Bay guesthouse refused to accept black patrons; a picture taken at a creche showed a black child allegedly being segregated from her white playmates; and Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi was the subject of racist abuse on Twitter.This does not have to be the way the year ends. We can use the next six months to begin to create a better country.It means fighting corruption with more than just words. It means creating meaningful work.It means defending our democracy through the strength of our vote, and it means acknowledging and dealing with racial divisions with more than just platitudes...