Mass Death

Someone shared this Twitter thread today that put into words the impending doom that I've felt coming for the past few months. At first I thought maybe it wouldn't be as bad as I'd imagined - everything stayed relatively operational for the most part, and look, other countries are already starting to reopen and get back to normal! But no, somehow the US is going from bad to worse to even worse.

"It is worth it to give up a year of our lives so we don't have to give up the rest of our lives."

This fall and winter are going to be historically nightmarish. I’ve been asking myself how we prepare psychologically to endure what’s coming... and the answer is, I don’t know. I can’t. I’m already hanging by a thread. We all are.

— Desirina Boskovich (@thedesirina) July 11, 2020

At this point, without drastic and immediate intervention, we are headed inexorably for a mass death event that most Americans haven't seen at home in their lifetimes. Maybe that's why so many people seem so indifferent to mass death and what it means.

— Desirina Boskovich (@thedesirina) July 11, 2020

Those who are fortunate enough to physically survive will be traumatized for a lifetime. We are marching straight toward the generational tragedy that will haunt us as long as we live, and we're talking about cancel culture and the fucking stock market.

— Desirina Boskovich (@thedesirina) July 11, 2020

What we're not talking about: every child who loses a grandma / uncle / cousin / neighbor / family friend and will spend the rest of their lives wondering if it was their fault, if they brought that death home with them from school and never even knew.

— Desirina Boskovich (@thedesirina) July 11, 2020

What we're not talking about: hurricanes are coming, and every at-risk person & their families is about to be forced into a horrific choice between evacuation, exposure, and potential death from covid, or remaining in the path of the storm and potentially drowning in their attic.

— Desirina Boskovich (@thedesirina) July 11, 2020

We're not talking about today's children who will never get over their fear of being in public, of being around other people, of being outside. We're not talking about what it means when you allow the doctors and nurses to die first.

— Desirina Boskovich (@thedesirina) July 11, 2020

We're talking now about the current rise in substance abuse and domestic abuse and mental health crises, but we're not talking about the way that survivors of mass death events are vulnerable to those factors for the rest of their lives.

— Desirina Boskovich (@thedesirina) July 11, 2020

A mass death event like this literally takes generations to recover from. A lot of the people who experience it never recover. And their damage harms their children, who grow up with abusive parents, addicted parents, emotionally numb parents, anxious & terrified parents.

— Desirina Boskovich (@thedesirina) July 11, 2020

We all want to go back to normal. We wanted the summer to be normal & we want fall to be normal. We want community for our children & we miss our families & we want college kids to learn & we want to go back to work. BUT NOTHING CAN BE NORMAL DURING OR AFTER MASS DEATH.

— Desirina Boskovich (@thedesirina) July 11, 2020

What I am screaming as loudly as I can: it is worth it to avoid mass death. It is worth whatever sacrifices we have to make, whatever normalcy we give up, whatever incredibly drastic & serious & life-altering choices we make. It is worth it.

— Desirina Boskovich (@thedesirina) July 11, 2020

Even if we live, we will not survive what's coming.

— Desirina Boskovich (@thedesirina) July 11, 2020