The worst of times. The best of us.

Posted on 6 January, 2020

2020 has so far been the worst of times, as our coastal and country neighbours are devastated by bushfires and Canberra is shrouded in smoke. But it has brought out the best in us.

It became real on New Year’s Eve. A night usually reserved for revelry was strangely subdued, coloured by weeks of anxiety for our coastal and country neighbours battling the ferocious bushfires devastating south-eastern New South Wales.

Where there should have been celebration, there was a wall of smoke—rolling in like something from a post-apocalyptic nightmare. With it came a sense of dread for what was to come.

As a new year dawned, we refreshed our social media feeds, frantic to know if our friends trapped in these fiery battlegrounds were safe.

The next morning brought fresh horror, as the scale of the disaster was revealed, and our city’s air quality became the worst in the world.

We met our new normal.

Five days have passed, and Canberra has a different rhythm. Where cool summer mornings were once spent walking around the lake, or enjoying an al fresco breakfast, they are now spent indoors, sheltering from toxic air.

People try desperately to source masks or air purifiers to make breathing easier, but they’re sold out across the city.  We have a new vocabulary—almost every Canberran now knows what “P2” means.

Shopping centres, businesses, cafés and national institutions are closed. Australia Post has suspended deliveries. Flights have been cancelled. Streets are empty.

While shrouded in smoke, we remind ourselves that we are the lucky ones. We are safe. We have our homes. Not everyone is so fortunate.

And so, in the worst of times, we show the best of ourselves. Canberra—once described as a “city without a beating heart”—shows just how much love it has to give. Our beating heart couldn’t be more evident.

All across town, people ask, ‘how can I help?’

People like Roseanne Howes, who heads up the #slabsforeheroes movement which has been calling for, coordinating and distributing supplies for fire crews battling these ferocious blazes.

Or The G Spot’s Andrew Dale, who has been working tirelessly to support crews and those affected since the northern New South Wales fires in November—every single day.

Then there’s Alison Elliot and the crew behind Facebook Group Bushfire Emergency accommodation in Canberra, which has connected thousands evacuating from bushfires to people in Canberra and the surrounding region offering emergency accommodation, support and donations.

Many, many other organisations and individuals who have taken up their own collections or donated their time or proceeds towards the cause.

The nameless volunteers who have given supplies, money, their time and their homes for evacuees.

The group looking after our wildlife by ensuring they have adequate water.

Those who share stories and information to help people connect.

The donors who give cash so that organisations at the front line can continue their amazing work.

All with just one purpose—to help ease the pain of those enduring unimaginable trauma.

Because this is what Canberrans do when times get tough. We come together, we reach out, we lift others up.

We show our soul, our beating heart—we show the best of us.

Discover five simple ways to help here.