The statistics just keep on pouring from the radio and television.
Allan Finder . . .
498 dead in New York City last night, move on, a couple hundred in Detroit, Memphis had a bad night, look out, Boston, the numbers are rising, can’t get that damned curve to flow downward yet, but hope springs eternal.
Lorena Borjas . . .
And I hate to admit this but hey, someone has to, I am so accustomed to all of the death statistics that they barely register with me now. It’s like background music in a dentist’s office, you know. I hear the sound but the actual tune is nebulous at best.
Bob Glanzer . . .
The thing is, and it’s something I’m trying to absorb today, is that each statistic is someone’s brother, someone’s wife, someone’s aunt or uncle or father or mother or child. Each statistic is a loved one to someone, you know, and I think it’s crucial that we remember that fact. I don’t ever want to reach the point where those statistics mean absolutely nothing to me.
Janice Rodman . . .
I think back to the Vietnam War, and how television really brought the realities of war to us all. While eating our Swanson TV dinners, on our folding tv trays, we could turn on the news and watch as body bags were unloaded from transport planes, and witness, up close and personal, the anguish on the faces of soldiers, thousand yard stare intact, as they grabbed a smoke on some numbered hill in the middle of some country none of us had heard of ten years prior and God almighty, the pain we saw on those faces, and the burning corpses and amputees and rivers flowing red after the airstrikes.
Ron Hill . . .
And they built memorials for those soldiers, black granite walls for all to see, for all to remember, and hopefully for all to learn from, but . . .
Time has a way of muting the memories, now doesn’t it, and I wonder if, when this is all over, we’ll go back to the way it was, or will we wake up, snap to attention, and let this lesson sink into our gray matter, change the way we go about our lives, and appreciate the sweet wonder of life itself.
And will the dead be remembered, those sons and daughters, wives and husbands, fathers and mothers, will there be memorials for them, the victims of a faceless enemy, one who crept into the night and filled so many with dread and nightmares . . .
Wishing you all good health and happiness
Love,
bill
Billybuc
Artistry With Words 
Aw, Bill the numbers are staggering and I know this too shall pass, but the dead will definitely not be forgotten. So thanks for that simple, but grand reminder here today. Have wonderful end to your week now.
You do the same, Janine! Stay safe and be happy, my friend.
Hi Bro.
I’m taking a Hub Pages rest right now, but wanted to contribute to your Artistry With Words. On one level, it’s scary times and yet on another level, it is happening for a deeper more meaningful purpose.
I know that you are busy, but I will send you a 2min piece by Sri Chinmoy. He was always so positive about America! This piece, seems to relate to the current crisis quite well. Much Love.
Thank you my brother! I am hopeful that we will learn valuable lessons from this pandemic. I am hopeful it will lead to positive changes. I am hopeful.
Sending you blessings and love
So simple yet poignant. I’ve said that it became like the 9-11 broadcasts to me. I had to stop paying attention to the news and the awful realities of what is going on in the hot spots. Not that I want to become numb to the suffering in the world. And now, I know that the economy needs to be working or we create more problems and more suffering, but I hope that there won’t be a bigger price to pay for it. I hope and pray that if they are going to reopen businesses and life starts slowly returning to “normal” that it is done in the best way possible. I’m looking forward to the day a vaccine is made readily available with the other flu vaccine.
It is a mess, Shannon, and the mess has just begun I’m afraid. Our economy is not going to bounce back quickly. Still, I think we’ve faced worse in our history, so I have faith.
I too wonder the same, Bill.
Right now the numbers are staggering and I just hope and pray those families who have lost a member in this battle can fight it out.
While we all continue to stay sane during this time, I also hope this virus RIP.
Take care Bill. Stay safe.
Thank you Ruchira! RIP for sure,and soon, my friend.
Bill, it’s hard to imagine life as it was. But history does repeat itself. Life goes on, we return to our routines, create new ones. The question is: Have we learned anything from this and past atrocities? Me thinks the answer is “no” or the world wouldn’t be mourning and the sky wouldn’t be falling.
Stay well, my friend. Keep your chin up, as my dad says.
We are in agreement, Sha! I doubt seriously that we have learned from our mistakes, which means a bigger lesson will have to be presented to us, and my God have mercy on us when that happens.
Chin up, moving forward, my friend!
I fear that unless that person is close to us we do tend to gloss over the real people behind the statistics. I hope that this changes us, though there’s a part of me that fears it won’t.
I have serious doubts, Andrea. I’m afraid I don’t have much faith in humanity as whole. Still, there are individuals who give me great hope.
Blessings to you always
Let’s hope we will actually learn something from this experience and act on it from here on!
Stay safe!
I have my doubts we will learn, but we can always hope. 🙂 Blessings to you!
Bill
I think that no matter how quickly things change once the virus has been ‘bested’ things will never go back to the way they were.
Governments may not learn, but people do, and believe it or not,what people learn tends to stick around a lot longer than we realise!
There’s things we do today that we think are ‘quaint’ but humanity learned the hard way it saved lives back in the 1300s and it still saved lives today.
I think we’ll come out better and more compassionate, at least that’s my prayer.
I believe that is true, Lawrence. I think we are going to put many things on hold in our personal lives and concentrate on what is truly important.