The big news this week aside from further home schooling for all those stressed parents attempting to juggle demanding jobs as well as schooling, was that over 100,000 lives have been lost to Covid.
That is an enormous amount of lives.
Maybe some of those actually died of non Covid related deaths but just happened to have tested positive in the month before death.
It could be that some died of Covid without ever getting a positive test and are not included within this.
Perhaps if we are talking about deaths related to Covid this would include those who have died in our care homes because without the contact from loved ones they had nothing to live for. By the same vein, there are those who take their own lives for the same reason.
What if we include all those who require life saving treatments for cancer and the likes but who cannot receive it because resources are reserved for Covid?
And I’m pretty sure there will be other casualties of Covid as yet uncovered.
Like the rest of life Covid is indiscriminate.
It does not distribute itself or its consequences fairly.
I certainly would not wish to be living through these times minus my belief in a God that is bigger than it all.
This week has shown us sobering statistics whatever the true numbers may be.
Every single one of these lives, whether included in the official numbers or not, is a life that matters. A life that would have impacted the lives of those around them; family, neighbours, friends, colleagues …
That is an enormous loss of life.
Whether this has hit us personally through deaths, ill health, loss of livelihood or in any other way, this tragic reality reminds us all of the fragility of life.
Life is a gift not to be squandered.
It can be taken away in an instant; our own or others.
Does this sober us enough to really think about what we are doing or what we want to be doing (yes within restrictions and beyond) with our lives to honour the gift that we have and the gift that so many have lost?
Every life counts.
What will you do with yours?