WHERE HAVE ALL THE PHOTOS GONE

So last night, we had a socially distanced visit from an old friend. We sat in the back, with two separate tables, and talked and laughed and caught up and all those things you do with old friends, only with the added feeling of joy at seeing someone in person and all that brings with it. I do think I value seeing people a lot more than I used to. We take so much for granted in this life. Our time. Our health. Our loved ones. Having the world shaken like a giant snow globe has  forced us to reassess our priorities. What are we living for? What do we want to do before we die? I find I love being alive even more than I already did. I love taking walks with Lisa each morning. I love writing this blog. I love gardening. Don't get me wrong. I already loved all those things. I just love them more. So, there we were, sitting in the back yard, catching up, talking about whatever came to mind. And somehow we got on the subject of how there is a huge lack of actual photos and/or video of people who have the virus. How horrible it looks. And how maybe, awful as it is, we should see more of it. We talked about how the footage from the Vietnam War made a lot of people see for the first time what a war really looks like, and what the price of a war is. It's one thing to read about an event, a disease, a disaster. Another to see it. As we were talking about this, I thought of this woman I am friends with on Facebook who has the virus. I don't know how we became Facebook friends. Theatre is a large community, and we come into lots of contacts, all the time. It's the nature of the beast. Anyhow, she had been posting photos of herself in ICU, dealing with the disease. It looked awful. Like "this can't be real" awful. I hadn't seen a post in awhile, but thought I would look her up while we were talking about images of people who have the virus. And I discovered that she had died from the virus. She was younger than me. She had a husband and kids. And she's dead. Forever.

It seems like a lot of us are acting as if it's all over. That now we are in the process of picking up the pieces, and getting on with our lives. As if the threat has abated, and all is well. I would love to believe that. But I don't. I think there are more and more new cases. I think we are rushing in way too fast, and with little to no thought of social distancing, wearing masks, or even the old standby that was so popular at the start of this, washing our hands. And there will be more and more mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers, more grandmas and grandpas and nieces and nephews, who will get sick and die. We will probably hit a hundred thousand fatalities before June. Just here in the USA. I think that there will be a second wave, and a third, and the shut downs will return, and people will freak out. And I am certain we could have handled this better. That we should have listened to the scientists and not politicians and pundits. That we should have spent more time being safe and less time reposting ridiculous memes about the fucking flu. We can do better. And we must. I don't want to see more people die. I don't want children to lose their mother. I don't want any of this. And I don't think screaming at each other helps.

Also, I think it takes courage to wear a mask. I think it takes courage to ask people to social distance. I think it takes courage to stay at home when you are tired and restless and lonely.

I wanted to show photos of people who have the virus. Show what it looks like. I am not sharing the photos from the woman on FB, because I don't know what her family wants to do about that. So I googled "corona virus victims", and "what does it look like when you have the corona virus" and all sorts of variations. And you can't find a photo of a person in ICU. Not one. Which seems a bit weird. I even tried "woman who died of corona virus from Greeley" because two nights ago on Rachel Maddow there was a horrific image of her shown, of her in ICU. It was terrifying.

Why are there no photos we can all see? Why?

Something strange there. I can't believe it's a decency thing, considering the things we have all seen on the interwebs over the years. Is there a gag rule?

Well. to the woman I barely knew on Facebook:  Rest in Peace, and God help your children and husband and friends and family.

Here's a song. It's Everything Has Changed by Lucinda Williams.