Memorials

Monday was the 79th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. I've been seeing this image shared a lot on social media this week:

I've wondered for a long time how we will memorialize COVID victims in the future. 9/11 was the only other one of these events I've been around for, and I've made comparisons between that tragedy and this one previously. If we're not already there, we'll soon be approaching a point where we experience the equivalent of one 9/11 or greater per day. Here's an interesting look at how the 1918 flu pandemic and AIDS have been memorialized, and what type of monuments we might expect for COVID.

Yet there's still people who not only aren't taking the situation seriously, they're actively working against it and claiming it's not real. Hospitals all over the country are actually at capacity and will have to start turning away patients with any kind of injury or illness. Doctors and nurses are burned out and begging people to stay home so they don't get sick.

One thing I've noticed recently, on my daily walks around my neighborhood: many people are now just wearing masks by default, even if they're walking by themselves with nobody else around. I am a big mask fan, and keep one in my pocket, but don't put my mask on unless there are people around that I won't be able to avoid. If I were in a city or somewhere that a person could come out of a building or around a corner, I'd keep it on - but for walking my wide suburban streets where I can see people coming and 99% of the time avoid them by crossing the street, I haven't been wearing one (although it's been so cold, it would probably be nice for keeping my face warm!). It seems like overkill, but I'm glad that in my area, at least, people are being more conscientious of taking precautions.