”The cover of Sunday’s New York Times. It lists the names of 1000 Americans, dead of Covid-19. One thousand is just one percent of the number of those officially counted as dead of coronavirus we will likely hit this Memorial Day weekend.
It is “AN INCALCULABLE LOSS,” the headline reads. “They Were Not Simply Names on a List, They Were Us.”
The editors introduce the list by saying: “Numbers alone cannot possibly measure the impact of the coronavirus on America, whether it is the number of patients treated, jobs interrupted or lives cut short. As the country nears a grim milestone of 100,000 deaths attributed to the virus, The New York Times scoured more than 1,000 obituaries and death notices honoring those who died. None were mere numbers.”
Each name comes with a characteristic of the person lost: “Stanley L. Morse, 88, Stark County, Ohio, trombonist who once turned down an offer to join Duke Ellington’s orchestra;” “Jose Diaz-Ayala, 38, Palm Beach, Fla., served with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office for 14 years;” “Louvenia Henderson, 44, Tonawanda, N.Y., proud single mother of three;” “Ruth Skapinok, 85, Roseville, Calif., backyard birds were known to eat from her hand.” “Richard Passman, 94, Silver Spring, Md., rocket engineer in the early days“?
"Every year on the date, the 3,000 victims of September 11th are read aloud at the World Trade Center. It takes 3 hours.
If we were to read the names of each person who has died of Covid-19 so far, it would take over 4 days, without stopping.
It would cover each Sunday issue for over the next two years.
Today I read 1% of those names. Each of those names was allowed half a sentence to describe them. Half a sentence for a lifetime on the front page of The New York Times.
I picked out some of my favorites:
-“We called him the grand Poobah”
-her backyard birds ate right from her hand
-could fix almost anything
-first black woman to graduate Harvard Law school
-quick with his fists in the ring
-her will was indomitable
-he could spit a watermelon seed halfway across a double lot
-agent who turned on the CIA
-her favorite quote was ‘I am as good as you are, and as bad as I am’
-cancer survivor who lived as a deacon
-nothing delighted him more than picking up the bill
-saved 56 Jewish families from the Gestapo
-could be a real jokester
-thought it was important to know a person’s life story
-maestro of a steel-pan band
-saw friends at their worst and made them their best
-engineer behind the first 200mph stock car
-discovered his true calling when he started driving a school bus
-made the best Baklava ever
-emergency room doctor who died in his husband’s arms
-leader in integrating schools
-architect behind Boston’s City Hall
-shared his produce with food banks and neighbors
-family believed she would have lived the traditional Navajo lifespan of 102 years.
-loved his wife and said ‘yes dear’ a lot
-mother to a generation of AIDS patients
-worked long hard hours and still made time for everyone
-walked across the Golden Gate Bridge on opening day
-liked his bacon and hash browns crispy
-more adept than many knew
-would stay awake the whole night shift because she didn’t want anyone to die alone
-freed from life in prison
-her last words were ‘thank you’
Seven small towns I thought no one else had heard of.
Six women who reminded me of my mother.
Five people my age.
Four holocaust survivors.
Three 9/11 responders.
Two couples who died together.
One person I’ve met.
And a 5 year old girl.
They didn't get a funeral.
They didn't get to say goodbye.
I've been in my apartment for 71 days. I've cried four times.
Three of those times, was while I read this.
Have fun at your barbecue." - Jacqueline Kamel“
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