I heard Dr. Fauci say there were 525,000 COVID-19 deaths (in the US) the other day. Obviously this wasn't an exact figure and with the rate of death still as high as it is, the number is now several thousand higher than that. But the Broadway-lover in me couldn't hear the number 525,000 and not immediately go to Seasons of Love from Rent. And almost immediately my mind started rewriting the lyrics. I'm not a song writer or a poet, obviously. My apologies to Jonathan Larson!
525,600 loses. 525,000 loved ones so dear. 525,600 memories. How do you measure, measure a year?
In lockdowns, in face masks, in clapping for essential workers.
In nurses, in zoom calls, in hugs we couldn't give.
525,600 families, how do you measure the year this past year in our live?
How about love and loss. How about love and loss. How about love and loss. Measure in tears. Seasons of P...P...E.... Seasons of vaccine.
525,600 loved ones. 525,000 no longer here. 525,600 memories. How do you measure how much we've lost this year?
In truths that We learned, or in times that We cried.
In bridges that we had to build to reach out when people died.
It's time now to be strong, cuz the pandemic isn't done, let's commemorate remember a year we lost family and friends.
Remember the love.
Remember the loss.
Remember the pain.
Measure in tears.
Seasons of love and loss. Seasons of love and loss.
None of us knows what the final tally will be. Too many, that is certain.
How are you measuring this past year?
