As the one-year anniversary of the World Health Organization’s declaration of a pandemic approaches, it might be time to consider how our modern age wants to remember this plague.
Every day, the internet fills up with more and more dead people while our ability to reanimate them grows. The dead are more robust and more vulnerable — and we’re not ready for any of this.
Grief is inevitable, and its effects on individuals, communities and populations need to be recognized and addressed.
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The testimonies of bereavement counsellors reveals devastatingly lonely experiences of grief, unexpected feelings of loss and even some silver linings.
A still from the 1946 classic ‘It’s A Wonderful Life.’
RKO Pictures/Archive Photos/Moviepix/Getty Images
Holiday movies have been an essential part of the American winter celebrations. They offer a glimpse into how the world is could be, often in sharp contrast to reality.
Anxious moments: Trump supporters on election night.
David Becker/EPA
Hindu philosophy believes the soul to be immortal. Death is considered to be the end of only physical incarnation, as the soul continues its journey of multiple births until its final liberation.
Greek hero Achilles with the body of Hector, his main opponent in the Trojan War.
Jean-Joseph Taillasson/Krannert Art Museum
Families who lost their loved ones during the pandemic could not even properly grieve. Greek epics show why lamentation and memorial are so important and what we can learn in these times.
A portrait of Alfred, Lord Tennyson,
by Samuel Laurence and Sir Edward Burne-Jones, circa 1840.
Wikimedia Commons
Alfred Tennyson’s passionate book-length elegy was once among the most popular poems in English. Today, it shows us how soulful art can stir us to life and stave off banality.
Nick Cave’s ongoing letters to fans, begun after a period of intense mourning over the death of his son, have much to say about suffering, mercy and meaning-making.
A father adjusts his daughter’s face mask outside the White House.
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With its daily tallies of those lost to disease, the coronavirus pandemic has brought death into sharp focus, especially for those who are older.
A funeral director calls relatives of a COVID-19 victim for a virtual viewing before cremation on May 22, 2020 in New York City.
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Religious scholars and faith leaders reflect on the death rites cultures have developed to honor the deceased, comfort the living and share the burden of mourning.
The pandemic has left holes in all our lives.
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Even those of us spared the worst of COVID-19 are missing our favorite pastimes, places and people. But pleasure can also take unexpected new forms in a pandemic.
Jackie Kennedy leaving the US Capitol after viewing John F. Kennedy lying in state.
Wikimedia
The objects we gather around us - from op shops, from roadsides, from the intimate spaces of lost loved ones - are far from inanimate. They carry wisdom, comfort and guidance.
In places where children die with tragic frequency, the collective grief of parents affects all society.
Mary Long/Shutterstock
In many sub-Saharan African countries, 20% of mothers have suffered the death of a child, a new study finds. In Mali, Liberia and Malawi, it’s common for mothers to lose two children.