Hope for a New Year

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  • Hope for a New Year
    Hope for a New Year
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As we started preparing this edition of the Dublin Citizen, I faced two unique choices.

The first came when choosing the verses to be included on the Church Page (found on A6). The page is sponsored by local businesses and churches and features select verses from the Bible as its centerpiece. For a couple of years now, the verses have come from Psalms offering readers the chance to reflect on the book one or two psalms at a time. We reached 150 last week, which is the last.

I briefly considered going straight to Proverbs but ending the book at the end of 2020 felt like the perfect opportunity to pick where to proceed.

This is also traditionally the week of our Year in Review where we highlight major developments and accomplishments that have occurred. I struggled with how many people even wanted to reflect on 2020.

There have been countless jokes and even serious discussions about forgetting this year that has been characterized by so much hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Those I confided in suggested just making the retrospective smaller and not splitting it up over two weeks.

The advice was sage, but as I looked at our papers from the past year, I realized that there were a lot of triumphs through the frustration.

As people struggled with unemployment, this year saw what felt like an unprecedented amount of neighbors helping neighbors with both food banks getting support and the Tarrant County Food Bank making visits to help provide even more food for those in need in our community.

Angel Trees garnered a lot of support and the first annual Shop With a Cop brought an extraordinary amount of good will as donations poured in to allow local officers to take Erath kids in need on a special shopping trip, reminding them that there are those in our community who care.

There was too much to run in just one week so I decided to split it over two weeks. The virus has to be mentioned when looking back, but for any mention of a shelter order, look to the anonymous donations made out of love and charity.

For every struggle that we’ve faced, reflect on the ways that those struggles drove people to look for others to help.

There was a lot of divisiveness t h a t happened this past year, particularly in such an active election cycle.

There were also plenty of examples of solidarity.

I chose to offer the Year in Review because the year needs to be remembered for its hardships, from which we can hopefully learn and from its triumphs that can hopefully continue.

I also chose to start the Gospel of Matthew on the Church page, starting with the birth of Christ. The first Gospel of the New Testament proclaiming the hope and salvation of a People seems like the perfect way to start 2021.

I hope 2021 brings you lots of blessings and reasons to reflect.

Gaudette is the managing editor at the Dublin Citizen and can be reached at 445- 2515 and publisher@dublincitizen.com.