COMMENT: Fires, tragedy on Christmas should make us grateful
WHILE most of us cut into our Christmas ham and unwrapped gifts with our families, there were some doing it tough.
This Christmas has been marred by tragedy across the country - from Christmas Eve storms destroying homes to the devastating bushfires in Victoria on Christmas Day.
There have been road deaths and families left in mourning.
And people left homeless by disaster - given very little warning of the impending danger to their homes and their lives.
It's stories like these, and of Goondiwindi man Clinton Horridge, who lost his home in a house fire, that should make us grateful for the Christmas we had.
It's hard to comprehend that while most of us celebrated, there were many who had nothing to celebrate and very little to feel grateful for.
The loss of one's home, livelihood or family and friends on Christmas Day is unimaginable.
For those people the memory of Christmas will forever be tainted by memories of "remember that Christmas when..."
A big thankyou should also go to those men and women who sacrificed their Christmas for the greater good - the firefighters, the policemen and women, paramedics, doctors and nurses who are all there for us if Christmas doesn't go to plan.
