EDITOR’S LETTER: from the desk of The Weekly’s Nicole Byers

Sometimes bad things happen,” my four-year-old daughter tells me matter-of-factly as I try desperately to steer her away from the heartbreaking sight of a dead baby bird on the footpath in front of us. “But I don’t want you to be sad,” I say, as I tug at her sleeve.

“Bad things make me so sad that’s why I need to look at it,” she explains earnestly, transfixed.

A challenging conversation about death ensues, before she circles back to the other “bad thing” consuming her, like so many of us right now – the bushfires.

The grey haze blanketing our suburb, the smell of smoke that sometimes seeps into our house and the fact she hasn’t been able to play outside with her pre-school friends has not gone unnoticed. Kind teachers carefully explain why bushfires happen and how it affects our wildlife. She is fascinated and, unsurprisingly, a little alarmed.

She worries about the families that live in the bush, she worries about the koalas and the birds and she wonders where all the people whose houses burn down are going to live. It’s a lot for such a little mind to take in. Let’s be honest, even mature minds can struggle to process what lies before us as we head into the oh-so futuristic sounding 2020.

So when it came to selecting a cover for our January issue, it seemed fitting to take a break from our usual celebrity subjects and recognise the brave souls who are out there protecting us, our land and our animals from the fury of the fire season. After all, as my daughter pointed out, just because things are sad it doesn’t mean we should look away.

Many of our firefighters are volunteers; they have day jobs, they have families and lives to live and they have never had a more intense start to the season. A handful of these heroes share their stories and struggles (page 16) and help remind us that in these trying times we must pull together to triumph.

Another young woman who embodies the Aussie spirit of grit, determination and team work is tennis superstar Ash Barty. We speak to Ash and the ‘family’ of emerging female tennis talent (page 42) who are giving us much-needed cause to celebrate and be proud this summer.

Ash is a young woman who, without ego or attitude, represents her country at the highest level while inspiring and encouraging her peers, along with young girls of all ability levels, to get out there and give it a go. It’s thanks to women like her, and the firefighters featured in our cover story, that I can tell my daughter that there are ‘good people’ out there providing hope when the bad things seem too much.