The year that just ended was somewhat usual for Western Pennsylvania. We have come to expect little in the way of sunshine, warmth and dry weather if you live here.

So, we are accustomed to making note of those rare occasions and having appreciation for them. The entire year of 2020 seemed to be a test of patience and for those with faith in a supreme power it was a difficult test of that faith. But as you run the daily headlines of any local newspaper, such as the Butler Eagle, you will find that the staffs have worked diligently to find those little rays of sunshine that peek through even when you don’t expect them.

The forced slow-down of life in 2020 allowed coverage of many more selfless acts by people and organizations because we weren’t having to devote as much time to sports coverage, organized fund-raising and check-passing. It gave time and space for articles such as Alex Weidenhof’s story on self-guided tours at Jennings and Steve Ferris’ story on Butler Catholic integrating more technology into their curriculum.

The demand for raising the level of parent, teacher and student skill levels with new technology is something to be thankful for and certainly a ray of sunshine. Sometimes being forced by circumstances to learn something new is the only way it will happen. The change to remote learning also forced many school districts, municipalities and businesses to find funds for making remote learning and remote working possible.

Much to our amazement, many churches are reporting that 2020 was at least an OK, if not good, year for being able to cover the financial needs of their congregations. That is a positive ray of sunshine. Of course, while necessary, finances shouldn’t be the primary objective of the churches, but rather serving the people and continuing to do God’s work should be far more important.

We also have started to see some return to a little normalcy as it relates to funerals and weddings, which are crucial to a connected society. This is an opportunity to clarify a big falsehood that the internet scoundrels and anti-mask people try to spread about the impact of COVID-19 on our community. Almost daily, someone will post that the number of people dying from or being infected with COVID-19 is the same as flu in any other year. We can say as a fact that the number of obituaries in the newspaper are almost exactly double a normal year. That is a sad fact, but one that needs to be shared.

The brighter side is that we are starting to see a decrease in the total number of deaths reported. Maybe we are seeing that brightest possible hint of sun and a rainbow behind it as the medical world makes progress with the new vaccines. By the time we get our onion snow and Easter snow this spring and the robins have all returned to their nests, we may have weathered this dark time in our history and the sun will really shine through. Heavenly sunshine indeed. And please wear your mask.

— RV