Flags commemorating the Massachusetts war dead from the Revolutionary War on. One for each who lost their life. Beautiful, no? Sobering, too. All those souls, all those young men (mostly) lost.
Here's what it looks like this year. Memorial Day 2020.
This year, there's another kind of war on. Maybe next year, we'll have flags for the coronavirus deaths. For Massachusetts, the count stands at more than 6,000. And counting. In terms of absolute numbers, we have the 3rd highest number of deaths (behind New York and New Jersey), and the 4th highest rate of deaths per capita (Connecticut is ahead of us there).
I know a few people who have had COVID-19, mostly mild cases, although one friend's teenage daughter was hospitalized for a week. (Blessedly, not ventilated.) Until the other day, I hadn't been anywhere near anyone who'd died. Then I learned that Darryll Maston died of COVID. Darryll was the leader of the South Central Mass Choir, which has performed for many, many years at the annual Christmas in the City party for families experiencing homelessness - a charity I've been involved with for a while.
I can't claim to have known Darryll. We met in passing a couple of times, and he was on my list to write a CITC blog post about. His group always raised a joyful noise at the party. Friends of mine from Christmas in the City did know him well, and are saddened by the loss.
Other friends of mine from CITC were friends with Donna Morrissey, a well known Boston communications pro who held a senior position at the American Red Cross. (Earlier, she'd had the truly dreadful job of spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Boston at the time the Boston Globe Spotlight Team was uncovering the church's pedophile scandal.) Donna was only 51.
Sure, we all take comfort in the statistics that it mostly fells those in nursing homes. And others who aren't us. (Did I just see those demographic groups with the highest rates of death referred to as the 'vector class'? Ugly, that...) Fifty-one. Donna Morrissey was just 51. And not poor. And not minority. And not elderly. And not in prison.
But if you work for the Red Cross, you're used to being in the trenches, and that's probably where Donna was. (Of the people I have known who have had COVID-19, most work on the frontlines in social service.)
The weather hasn't been great this Memorial Day weekend. The city is usually packed for this first summer holiday, but it's mostly empty. On Saturday - gray, cool, overcast - I saw a few hearty parties picnicking (mostly at some type of distance) in the Public Garden. But there aren't a lot of people out and about. Which is a good thing, as our instances of COVID-19, and our death rate, are heading in the right direction, but not fast enough. Just as well it's not balmy out.
Since 2010, the Massachusetts Military Heroes Fund has been planting all those flags - over 37,000 - on the Common, and tons of folks come into Boston to see the display, which is quite moving. When I'm around, I've done my bit, spending a half hour or so helping take the flags down and bundling them up so they can be used again. Maybe next year.
Memorial Day 2020. It sure is one for the books. And like everyone else, I am more than ready to turn the page.
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Here's my first Memorial Day post, from the way back of 2007.
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