Deaths to memorialize

Monday is Memorial Day, the time this nation pauses to remember those who have died, as soldiers and in support of the many wars, declared and not declared, in the almost 160 years since our Civil War ended.

“These honored dead “ Lincoln declared at Gettysburg in 1863.

No one loses their life in war. Those are lives ended, snuffed out too soon, before their time, unexpected and not wanted to be sacrificed. Those lives were people loved, known, neighbors, friends, family, children and parents. These honored dead were doing their job, normal tasks, committed to service, caring for their fellow citizens, wanting to help.

In all our wars since the Revolution against England, in almost 250 years, some 1.2 million Americans have died. Last week the one millionth American died from the coronavirus, now over one million dead since 2020. Over 385,000 died in 2020, 463,000 more in 2021 and 155,000 in the last five months.

By the end of this year total American deaths from COVID-19 may surpass 1.2 million, matching this country’s total war deaths through our entire history.

A great portion of those deaths were preventable, a statement even more true since vaccines became available in early 2021.

As in war, so many deaths were on the front lines, healthcare workers: doctors, nurses, support office and custodial staff. Teachers and school staff have died, as have grocery store clerks, bus drivers, meatpackers, farmworkers and restaurant staff. And civilians, of course, customers, patients, passengers, parents and students. Each death is a tragedy, leaving holes in hearts, families upended and lives ripped apart.

And yet, ironically, in an odd way, the most tragic deaths may be those who refused to get vaccinated, declined to wear masks and purposefully herded together in crowds. Those souls could still be among the living if they were more community minded, patriotic and able to embrace science and the facts on the ground, as people say in analyzing battlefield dynamics.

Of these honored dead, healthcare workers, most particularly and specifically, fought for our lives, endangering themselves in order to serve and save us.

In real and everyday ways so did bus drivers, grocery clerks, school staff and a host of other essential workers who showed up at their jobs daily knowing they were putting themselves in danger.

How many people will die in the next seven months, by the end of this year? No one wants to bet that another surge will sweep the country, but who will bet against such a catastrophe, or even a second fall surge? New infection numbers are rising now, even as the news of surpassing one million deaths grows old.

How many more hundred thousand dead by Dec. 31? We will find out the hard way, by bitter experience and personal pain.

As we honor the deaths of the lives lost in military conflict, let us honor also the lives lost and those who put their lives on the line as the country marches into the third year of a pandemic that is not done with us no matter how much we want to be done with it.