Good morning and Happy Wednesday.
Today the morbid COVID death ticker flipped over 400,000.
Sept. 11 took a fraction of that, and every year we — rightfully — memorialize the passing of those innocent souls. How will we remember these souls?
Yesterday, the soon-to-be president took a step in that path of memory, when he and his wife and others from his administration watched as 400 lights were illuminated along the edges of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
If you’ve never been to the Reflecting Pool, it’s a moving and lovely spot on an ordinary day. And it serves as a remembrance for many moments in our collective history, some sorrowful and some joyous.
To honor our fallen fellows there feels right, feels fitting.
I’ve seen photos and images of the lights gleaming along the edge of the pool. It’s lovely and moving and all the things it should be. And other cities around the country are remembering too, with their own lighted displays displaying the lost souls of their cities.
But it would be better to not have to remember them at all. It would be better if they were home with their family, friends and loved ones. It would be better if 400,000 people didn’t have to die.
Today starts a new day. Today we can truly honor those 400,000 lost, by limiting how many follow them, by following the rules and getting vaccinated when we can, by not adding to their numbers unnecessarily.
Let today be the first of many days where the ticker slows and eventually stops. Let us turn over a new leaf, as we think of 400 lights, glimmering on the water.
—Heather Bailey, Newsletter Editor
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