Consider three North American cities: Atlanta, Georgia; Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and Matamoros, Mexico. I invite you to look up one or more of them on Google Earth or whatever viewing or mapping program you use. Study the demographics, take a virtual tour, find out how many museums each has, how many churches, how many restaurants, how many theatres--whatever attracts you to cities, and visualize the local population carrying out their lives.
Then imagine them empty: devoid of life and motion, no sound of traffic or bells or whistles or sirens, no children playing, no concerts, no couples laughing, no sports events, no people. Visualize each as a ghost town.
Each of these cities has a population of approximately 500,000--the number of Americans who have now died of COVID-19. That's what we as a nation have lost: the population of a good-sized city.
As pure numbers go, 500,000 isn't particularly huge, compared, e.g., to astronomical distances. We read about 500,000 widgets being shipped somewhere and don't bat an eye. But the 500,000 we're talking about here aren't widgets, and the distance they're traveling isn't finite.
These are American lives lost, their souls released. Early in the pandemic the American death toll was compared to 9/11. Now our scope has to expand to the point that the number of American COVID-19 deaths approximately equals the number of Americans killed in both world wars, combined.
Out of respect for those deaths President Biden has ordered flags flown at half-staff on federal buildings. Here in my part of Virginia many private organizations, companies, clubs, and individuals have followed suit.
The stark exception is the group who consider themselves citizens of Trumptopia. They fly the Trump flag high, and like their leader believe the pandemic to be a hoax and President Biden to be a pretender. They may not be traitors, but they are definitely deserters.
Die Fahne hoch . . . ?
Hell, no!
--- Diogenes, 2/26/2021