Some a lot worse than others.

At home, drought brought the heartbreak of stock losses, bankruptcy, devastation of gardens, parks, wild life, increasing depression - New England looked like an alien landscape.

Then came the unprecedented (a word that would be used a lot in 2020) bushfires attracting worldwide attention for their fierceness and the area the size of whole European countries that they devastated.

Night after night we saw the shocked and traumatised faces of folks who had lost everything putting on a brave face. Counting their blessings. Our Facebook friends kept us in touch with their fears as the flames encroached on their homes.

At Lower Creek, the danger to friends' lives multiplied by a perilous impassable road. In Armidale we felt guilty complaining about the smoke - but it was thick and eery and made people sick. The Mall looked like a ghost town. What else could go wrong? A plague?

The coronavirus brought us untold heartbreak. The despairing faces again on the news and social media of those whose parents had died alone in nursing homes, of those who couldn't go to funerals or births, of grandparents separated from grandkids. Empty streets and parks and schools and cafes and pubs and cafes. Shops going bust. And right now, just as we thought we had conquered the bloody thing - a new outbreak in Sydney. Long awaited holiday plans and hopes in jeopardy.

Glib statements about tragedies being sent to test us are thrown around but one thing is true. It is through the bad times that we learn a lot about our communities, our country and ourselves. Did we respond with compassion and generosity? Did fear blind us to reality? Did our mistrust of politicians make us doubt there was an even a coronavirus at all?

Compared with the US and many other countries, our health system was thankfully up to the challenge. Unlike the US, generally, so was our sense of community. Masks did not become politicised on party lines. Disappointingly, the PM's partisan attacks on the states handling of the virus spat in the pool of social cohesion we need in times like these.

The virus also showed the seams in our society that were frayed.

Domestic violence rates soared, foreign workers were publicly shamed for corona outbreaks and two women of colour called Enemies of the State. You could not help but notice the different attitude when the Northern Beaches became a hot spot.

Job Seeker payments drew attention to the poverty in which the unemployed have been living in for too long.

Coronavirus shone a torch on the dangers to the personal and public health from a highly casualised workforce.

2020 ends with some hope - a vaccine, Trump leaving office and democracy in the Armidale Region is back.

When the chips are down, it is clear - we need each other and we need good government.

A government that is always prepared for the worst so that people can live better lives now. A strong health system, a more secure workforce that is flexible for the worker, a welfare system that is less punitive and more realistic about the effects of dire poverty, more investment in science and technology and strong climate change policies.

Locally we need to have a strong, transparent and democratic system where councillors aren't dragged to court for doing their jobs.

We need to move forward now with faith in our region and hope for our future. That does not mean we don't back down from a fight to defend each other and stick up for our region.

Peace is all well and good but some things are worth fighting for.