One can't help but feel sorry for this year's HSC cohort. The pandemic has heaped disruption upon disruption on to what was already a stressful time. And then, in a cruel twist, their rite of passage, the formal or valedictory gathering, has been postponed and quite likely will be cancelled altogether.
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Students have had to contend with remote learning, curtailed sport, prohibted social gatherings. So many things that mark the coming of age for teenagers have been forced onto the backburner. That first legal drink, attaining the right to vote, the long goodbye of school and the anticipation of the next life chapter - all cast under the shadow of COVID.
And before that, there was the fire.
It must all seem grossly unfair.
If there is a bright side to all the disappointment, it is this: these young adults are witnessing firsthand history that will be told and retold for generations to come.
Foregoing the 18th birthday won't be the memory that sticks in 40 or 50 years' time. Nor will it be missing out on the formal gown they've been stalking for two years. It will be how they got through 2020, a year that will - apologies to President Roosevelt - live in infamy. It will be how they survived.
When their own children or grandchildren are complaining about how hard life is, they will answer with the inevitable: "You think it's bad now? This is what we had to go through back in 2020."
They will have stories to tell - of hardship, resilience, innovatfion, change and survival.
In this past week of commemorations for Victory in the Pacific and the Vietnam War, our reporters have had the privilege of talking to people who've lived through enormous upheaval.
These living links to history tell fascinating stories.
Among them is 104-year-old Fred Power, who served in South East Asia during World War II. Born just before the Spanish flu pandemic, he lived through the Great Depression, World War, the Cold War and is coping admirably through the current pandemic.
A special guest at the Vietnam commemoration in Bomaderry, Carl Robinson (pictured) spent his younger years as a reporter in Saigon during the Vietnam War. Like Fred, he was a witness to some of the most tumultuous history of the 20th century.
For those doing it tough this year, these people should remind you that as bleak as things are today, much worse has gone before.
