Today is set aside to remember the sacrifices made by those who served to protect our nation and way of life. It is fitting to contemplate the terrible cost in lives and futures that has been demanded of our people. Volunteers and draftees answered the call. Some of the wars were just, others misguided. But now, they laying side by side in neat rows of grave stones that march into the distance, and we start to comprehend the enormity of the sacrifices made in the name of the United States and us.
This Memorial Day is different. We are engaged in a struggle against an invisible foe that has taken, as of today, over 97,049 lives and sickened at least 1,600,000, all since January, 5 months. There is a pall of grief across our country. The number of dead from COVID-19 is greater than the total of all those killed in years of war since 1960, including 9/11. Yet, because these dead are spread across our nation, there is no memorial park with manicured lawn, no rows of ghostly white headstones, and no way to visualize the slaughter we are now experiencing. And, the slaughter continues as everyday more cases are reported and more bodies committed to the earth. It is incomprehensible.
None of the COVID-19 dead volunteered to die for America, they were unknowingly conscripted. Most are the elderly, infirm, and poor. The dead are the front line healthcare workers who bravely did their jobs trying to heal the sick and protect the rest of us. None volunteered.
Some of these deaths were inevitable, that is what happens when disease spreads. However, the horrific toll we see today was not inevitable. Most of the COVID-19 dead died unnecessarily. Killed by ignorance, ineptitude, self-interest, and malice. These dead deserve to be remembered today too.
We need to remember both the brave who served our nation and the victims sacrificed to dogma.
Let us remember, grieve and learn.