I felt like I had been punched in the gut after reading this paragraph in Kari Stadem’s letter “What about invisible deaths?”.
“If my parents or in-laws die tomorrow, whether from COVID-19 or some other cause, it will be sad. But it will not be a tragedy. They have lived full, rich lives.”
I am a retired, voting, senior citizen. When I retired, I didn’t just pull out the rocking chair and corn cob pipe to wilt away. My life has value and purpose. I serve no purpose in death.
How sad and lost are we if we can convince ourselves that it is okay to sacrifice a bunch of old people so others can put a few pieces of silver in their pockets? I am so ashamed to call myself an American in the year 2020.
I am what I call a late bloomer. I have more nonmaterial value today than I have had in my life.
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Every person lost prematurely is a tragedy, and those are what will happen if we prioritize money over the lives of our valuable old people.
I wonder how nurses, doctors, and other health-care providers feel about watching old people suffer and die because money is more important than they are. Are they just another sacrifice?
I like to collect little anecdotes. One that I do not know who to give credit to is: please weep for me because I cannot weep for myself.
Dennis Torgerson
Willmar
