There are so many losses in the churning wake of the pandemic. The devastating numbers spin our heads. As the individual losses mount and the hundreds daily become thousands, collectively we are in shock. Or denial. Or some strange brew of the two.
It is a time for action, but parallel to it we need patience. A sobering patience that allows for sustained contemplation of the unthinkable. We must pause to mourn and mark the untimely passage of lives extinguished too soon. We must witness to them, with all the courage we can muster.
Even as we marshall for the long, lingering fight, we need to begin a genuine reckoning with all that has already been irretrievably lost. Only in this way can we approach the rest of this battle with a sincere hope for our humanity.
“At the going down of sun and in the morning, we will remember them.” –Laurence Binyon
