Anyone who has lost a loved one has heard it from someone, the “it will get better” speech.
This is a lie; it never gets better.
You start out with the crying and the hitching, then the tears stop because there are none left. Then it turns into hitching and crying with tears that will never dry up.
I worked on the cancer ward for seven years and nursing industry for 13 years, and I never told a grieving friend or family member that it will get better. The only thing I could say is “I am truly sorry for your pain.”
People experiencing this pain need to be acknowledged. Once everyone leaves and life goes on, they are left behind with a deep hole that can never be filled, and they must jump over this hole for the rest of their life.
OK, I am ready to talk about it.
Memorial Day tribute to our soldiers. How is it possible that more pictures where not sent in? Is it possible that during the 20-some years we have been at war, not everyone knew/knows a soldier? Well, now we are fighting a new war, a war that is not greed-related, religious, oil-based or land-based. It is not even a war against God or nature. It is a war against ourselves.
COVID-19 is a war unto itself. Nobody started it, and it was not released; it did not escape a lab and the Chinese never intended to hurt anyone. It was an accident. A tragic accident that has killed millions.
There were 2,305 American soldiers who died in the Afghanistan war, but COVID-19 has killed about 594,000 people in a fraction of the time the Afghanistan war lasted.
Now, I can imagine the chances of knowing someone who has died of COVID-19 is much higher than knowing one of our precious soldiers. Such beautiful people who are not recognized enough.
My thoughts here are not just about all the people who have died, but of all the people who are left behind to pick up the pieces and must deal with that hole. Does anyone know if a memorial for the COVID-19 casualties is being made?
I want to see a tribute to these people who died alone and scared, and how some did not even have a proper burial because of the massive overload on funeral parlors and social distancing vital for survival. Things are not going to get better as time goes on, they are only going to change.
This generation has been ruined and future generations will suffer thanks to our stubborn anti-vaccination people and people who have a doctor saying they do not have to wear a mask because it is hard to breathe or causes anxiety. Take a pill.
Hard to breathe, what a joke. I will tell you who it’s hard to breathe for: the 3.53 million people worldwide who died fighting the war against their own bodies and lost.
• Christina Elnicki is a mother of five and has been married for 26 years. She lives in Oglesby and works in Spring Valley at a nursing home. She can be reached at dbarichello@shawmedia.com.