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  2020-05-24

  Enjoy your memorial bbq

  When I saw an image of this front page on the internet, I thought it was from 100 years ago. And then I got my copy. Every year on the date, the 3,000 victims of September 11th are read aloud at the World Trade Center. It takes 3 hours. If we were to read the names of each person who has died of Covid-19 so far, it would take over 4 days, without stopping. It would cover each Sunday issue for over the next two years. Today I read 1% of those names. Each of those names was allowed half a sentence to describe them. Half a sentence for a lifetime on the front page of The New York Times. I picked out some of my favorites: -“We called him the grand Poobah” -her backyard birds ate right from her hand -could fix almost anything -first black woman to graduate Harvard Law school -quick with his fists in the ring -her will was indomitable -he could spit a watermelon seed halfway across a double lot -agent who turned on the CIA -her favorite quote was ‘I am as good as you are, and as bad as I am’ -cancer survivor who lived as a deacon -nothing delighted him more than picking up the bill -saved 56 Jewish families from the Gestapo -could be a real jokester -thought it was important to know a person’s life story -maestro of a steel-pan band -saw friends at their worst and made them their best -engineer behind the first 200mph stock car -discovered his true calling when he started driving a school bus -made the best Baklava ever -emergency room doctor who died in his husband’s arms -leader in integrating schools -architect behind Boston’s City Hall -shared his produce with food banks and neighbors -family believed she would have lived the traditional Navajo lifespan of 102 years. -loved his wife and said ‘yes dear’ a lot -mother to a generation of AIDS patients -worked long hard hours and still made time for everyone -walked across the Golden Gate Bridge on opening day -liked his bacon and hash browns crispy -more adept than many knew -would stay awake the whole night shift because she didn’t want anyone to die alone -freed from life in prison -her last words were ‘thank you’ . . . Seven small towns I thought no one else had heard of. Six women who reminded me of my mother. Five people my age. Four holocaust survivors. Three 9/11 responders. Two couples who died together. One person I’ve met. And a 5 year old girl. They didn't get a funeral. They didn't get to say goodbye. I've been in my apartment for 71 days. I've cried four times. Three of those times, was while I read this. Have fun at your barbecue.