‘Watershed moments’

Dear Editor:

In 100 years from now, when historians are scanning for true watershed moments in Wellington County’s past, they’ll discover a dusty old June 25, 2020 issue of the local newspaper.

And they’ll exclaim, “Aha, that’s when the great awakening began, when racial prejudices started to dwindle, then finally die forever in this county.”

Thank you to all the readers who wrote letters of great dismay about the Advertiser’s June 18 editorial cartoon, and equal thanks to the editor and publisher for responding to the outcry with humility, sincere apologies and promises to do better as we move forward.

As a newspaper reporter from the ancient era of the 1970s, I can vouch for how hard a weekly news staff works at the best of times, and can only guess how overwhelming the pressure caused by COVID has been for the whole Welly team. I for one am grateful for all your hard slogging through these strangest of times.

My deepest wish is this: Along with defeating COVID-19 and moving beyond racism once and for all - those same historians will look back 100 years from now, and see something even more astonishing.

That 2020 was the watershed moment when the world finally came together to say “Enough” to the devastating reality of climate change – then dug in like never before to create a green future for their kids – and all life on Earth.

Liz Armstrong, Erin