Nelson: Let's honour those who've succumbed to COVID-19 - Calgary Herald

Posted by parceline on

Thursday, June 4, 2020

Let’s pay tribute to those seniors who’ll forever be marked as victims of COVID-19, particularly the handful more than a century old.

They are far detached from victimhood. To be so described was once an insult. A character flaw, no matter how many holes in the shoe.

Instead, let’s imagine the things they saw, the lives they led and the people they met.

Because, when you pass that 100-year marker, you’ve won the race. Any time following is simply respite, before that next, perhaps greatest, journey.

So let’s honour them instead by calling them survivors.

Why? Because they lived through the greatest pandemic our world has ever known.

A hundred years ago the Spanish flu ravaged the planet with a ferocity far out-stripping what we face today. These folk were born into it and lived through it. Not only that, they kicked it to the curb, grabbing a century’s worth of living to spite its ugly face.

They did so with hope in their hearts. Not fear. We should honour them and do the same.

Chris Nelson is a regular columnist for the Calgary Herald.

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