Editor’s note: To a merry and bright 2021
2020 may have dragged us down, but we are certainly not out!
Aimee McGill, editor of the Northcliff Melville Times writes:
What a year 2020 has been, and how glad many of us will be to see the year come to a close.
The Covid-19 pandemic has turned the lives of so many of our community members completely upside down. Forced to remain home, many have lost their jobs and livelihoods, while countless others have lost the lives of their loved ones, forever gone, but never forgotten.
One would be far-stretched to find a person who has not felt the pain of this year, in one way or another.
But, in our darkest times, when the distant possibility of a future ‘normal’ seems too feint to imagine, my heart has been touched by the sheer kindness of our community members to one another. The human spirit simply never fails to prevail, and our residents of Randburg have shown spirit in abundance.
Heartbreaking stories have filled our email inboxes and social media accounts for months, but there have been a few individuals who have stood up, with the community behind them, to help those who truly had fallen on the hardest of times, and were most in need of a hand-up. To those people, I wish to bow my head in gratitude – you have saved lives, and saved communities. I have seen requests answered for transport money for a job interview, children’s birthday cakes, clothes, and of course food. I have seen this community open up in a way I could never have imagined, and I have cried tears of sorrow, and joy.
2020 may have dragged us down, but we are certainly not out!
On a personal level, this year has brought struggles far greater than I could ever have imagined I could endure, but it has also taught me more about my own strength and courage than I could ever have learned without it. I have grown this year, with the help of my loving husband, children, parents, in-laws and extended family – without whom, I simply don’t think I could have survived. I thank them now, in my own small way. I love you all!
And then there is our truly wonderful Northcliff Melville Times family – you guys have been pillars of strength not only to me, but to our community as a whole, and I thank you endlessly for that. What we do is not always easy, but you handle yourselves with poise and compassion, and I couldn’t be more proud of you. Reuven, Neo, Ofentse, Andile and Nicholas – I wish you all well as you embark on a short, but well-deserved break. May you enjoy the time that you have with those closest to you, and may your continued passion for your work be renewed and reinvigorated in 2021. You are wonderful, and I could not do this job without you guys – thank you!
To all residents, I thank you for the trust that you have put in our newspaper this year – we are here to represent you, and we hope that we have succeeded in that. I wish you a restful festive season spent with those you love the most.
To our readers who celebrate Christmas, I wish you a very, very Merry Christmas.
May you all be abundantly blessed, and may your every hope and dream for 2021 be richly received.
