Not Funny

I was in the middle of writing a post about the use of dark humor as a survival tool when my neighbor called. She called to let me know her son died this morning. He did not survive being removed from the ventilator. He refused to vaccinate in spite of a plethora of high risk co morbidities. He believed the lies. The religion of the Red Hat cost not only his life, but has forever altered the lives of all who loved him.

It is easy to write off the deaths of the vaccine refusers as karma. It is easy to darkly joke about Darwin and Republicans killing off their own base. What isn’t as easy is watching the grief of those left behind. How many orphans are there? How many widows? How many parents have buried their children? One in five hundred Americans dead. One in five hundred. Dead.

How does one even begin to comprehend the devastation this microscopic virus has left behind? How does one begin to comprehend that those who can protect themselves (and all they come in contact with) refuse to do so? Economics be damned. Politics be damned. This is about human life. When did that become meaningless? What point is being made?

There is nothing remotely funny in the death of my neighbor’s son. His belief in a false religion (for it is a religion) cost him his life. It has left his family bereaved. No one wins in this war of “personal freedom” vs the “lives- of -everyone -else.” Only death wins.

I am not laughing today, not even darkly.

Today I am grieving with my neighbor who has lost a son.