Monday, March 15, 2021

#IfYouReadOneThingToday - On pandemic loss

As I write this, the John Hopkins COVID dashboard informs me that COVID-19 has killed over 2.6 million people.

The sheer magnitude of that number - and the uncertainty over where it will eventually top out - masks what it looks like on the ground.

When we look at each life as an individual story of loss that ripples out through every other life that intersected it, we begin to realize just how much has changed, and how profound the losses truly are for those left behind.

Jessie Danville is but one of millions who grapples with this historic sense of loss as she mourns her mom, Barbara Land. Any death, at any time, is gut-wrenching. Covid makes it immeasurably worse, and this piece paints a starkly painful picture of what that looks and feels like.

By Lois Parshley
Pioneer Works
February 11, 2021

No comments: