On Dec 10, TIME Magazine announced the Person of the Year to be the fighters against Ebola. Every year, the magazine chooses the most influential person or people of that year and names them the Person of the Year.
There are many people who believe that choosing Ebola fighters was the best decision TIME Magazine could have made. They strongly believe the fighters should be honored for the work they’ve done and for saving so many lives.
“The rest of the world can sleep at night because a group of men and women are willing to stand and fight,” TIME Magazine Editor Nancy Gibbs said.
There are people, however, that are annoyed by the decision. Most are not annoyed by the fact that the Ebola Fighters themselves have been named as such, but by the fact that it was not a woman. Some have gone so far as to say that Taylor Swift [the only woman in the finalists for Person of the Year] never even stood a chance.
“I hadn’t thought about it, but I’ve never seen a woman be chosen,” junior Emily Ibarra said. “I think it’d be a great example for there to be one picked, it’d give a lot of little girls someone to look up to.”
The fighters themselves were honored to be chosen. Included in the decision are people that have been individuals who’ve been infected with Ebola before.
“Whenever we go through a devastating experience like what I’ve been through, it is an incredible opportunity for redemption of something,” MSF nurse’s assistant Salome Karwah said. “We can say, ‘how can I be better now because of what I’ve been through?’ To not do that is kind of a shame.”
Person of the Year is not something that is kept to tradition; it’s not always one individual. Though it defies the title, the Ebola fighters have been picked, whether it’s for better of for worse.