{"id":115107,"date":"2021-02-22T22:26:40","date_gmt":"2021-02-23T06:26:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/69.46.6.243\/?p=115107"},"modified":"2021-02-22T22:26:40","modified_gmt":"2021-02-23T06:26:40","slug":"president-biden-on-the-more-than-500000-american-lives-lost-to-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=115107","title":{"rendered":"President Biden on the More Than 500,000 American Lives Lost to COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, DC&#8230;Each day, I receive a small card in my pocket that I carry with me in my schedule.  It shows the number of Americans who have been infected by or died from COVID-19.  Today, we mark a truly grim, heartbreaking milestone: 500,071 dead.  That\u2019s more Americans who have died in one year in this pandemic than in World War One, World War Two, and the Vietnam War combined.  That\u2019s more lives lost to this virus than any other nation on Earth. <\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RBxAYLubm7M\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/153620663_136909251711260_2586053136303869907_o.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/153620663_136909251711260_2586053136303869907_o.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"640\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-115108\" srcset=\"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/153620663_136909251711260_2586053136303869907_o.jpg 640w, https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/153620663_136909251711260_2586053136303869907_o-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/153620663_136909251711260_2586053136303869907_o-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/153620663_136909251711260_2586053136303869907_o-570x570.jpg 570w, https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/153620663_136909251711260_2586053136303869907_o-30x30.jpg 30w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>But as we acknowledge the scale of this mass death in America, we remember each person and the life they lived.  They\u2019re people we knew.  They\u2019re people we feel like we knew.  Read the obituaries and remembrances.  The son who called his mom every night just to check in.  The father\u2019s daughter who lit up his world.  The best friend who was always there.  The nurse \u2014 the nurse and nurses \u2014 but the nurse who made her patients want to live.<\/p>\n<p>I was in \u2014 just in Kalamazoo, Michigan, at the Pfizer vaccine manufacturing facility.  There, I met a man when I walked in, whose father-in-law was dying of the virus.  He was sad.  I asked if I could call his father-in-law.  He said his father-in-law was too sick to speak.  But then he said, but could I pray for him \u2014 could I pray for him. <\/p>\n<p>We all know someone \u2014 fellow Americans who lived lives of struggle, of purpose, and of hope.  Who talked late into the night about their dreams; who wore the uniform, born to serve; who loved, prayed, and always offered a hand. <\/p>\n<p>We often hear people described as \u201cordinary Americans.\u201d  There\u2019s no such thing; there\u2019s nothing ordinary about them.  The people we lost were extraordinary.  They spanned generations.  Born in America.  Immigrated to America.  But just like that, so many of them took final breath alone in America.<\/p>\n<p>As a nation, we can\u2019t accept such a cruel fate.  While we have been fighting this pandemic for so long, we have to resist becoming numb to the sorrow.  We have to resist viewing each life as a sta- \u2014 as a statistic or a blur or on the news.  And we must do so to honor the dead, but equally important, care for the living and those left behind.<\/p>\n<p>For the loved ones left behind, I know all too well \u2014 I know what it\u2019s like to not be there when it happens.  I know what it\u2019s like when you are there, holding their hands.  There\u2019s a look in your eye, and they slip away.  That black hole in your chest, you feel like you\u2019re being sucked into it.  The survivor\u2019s remorse.  The anger.  The questions of faith in your soul. <\/p>\n<p>For some of you, it\u2019s been a year, a month, a week, a day, even an hour.  And I know that when you stare at that empty chair around the kitchen table, it brings it all back, no matter how long ago it happened, as if it just happened that moment you looked at that empty chair.  The birthdays, the anniversaries, the holidays without them.  And the everyday things \u2014 the small things, the tiny things \u2014 that you miss the most.  That scent when you open the closet.  That park you go by that you used to stroll in.  That movie theater where you met.  The morning coffee you shared together.  The bend in his smile.  The perfect pitch to her laugh.<\/p>\n<p>I received a letter from a daughter whose father died of COVID-19 on Easter Sunday last year.  She and her children \u2014 his grandchildren \u2014 enter Lent this season, a season of reflection and renewal, with heavy hearts.  Unable to properly mourn, she asked me in the letter, \u201cWhat was our loss among so many others?\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Well, that\u2019s what has been so cruel.  So many of the rituals that help us cope, that help us honor those we loved, haven\u2019t been available to us.  The final rites with family gathered around.  The proper homegoing, showered with stories and love.  Tribal leaders passing [with]out the final traditions of sacred cultures on sacred lands.<\/p>\n<p>As a nation, we cannot and we must not let this go on.  That\u2019s why the day before my inauguration, at the COVID-19 Memorial at the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall, I said to heal \u2014 to heal, we must remember.  I know it\u2019s hard.  I promise you, I know it\u2019s hard \u2014 I remember.  But that\u2019s how you heal: You have to remember.  And it\u2019s also important to do that as a nation.<\/p>\n<p>For those who have lost loved ones, this is what I know: They\u2019re never truly gone.  They\u2019ll always be part of your heart.  I know this, as well \u2014 and it seems unbelievable, but I promise you: The day will come when the memory of the loved one you lost will bring a smile to your lips before a tear to your eye.  It will come.  I promise you.  My prayer for you though is that day will come sooner rather than later.  And that\u2019s when you know you\u2019re going to be okay \u2014 you\u2019re going to be okay. <\/p>\n<p>And for me, the way through sorrow and grief is to find purpose.  I don\u2019t know how many of you have lost someone a while ago and are wondering, \u201cIs he or she proud of me now?  Is this what they want me to do?\u201d  I know that\u2019s how I feel.  And we can find purpose \u2014 purpose worthy of the lives they lived and worthy of the country we love. <\/p>\n<p>So today, I ask all Americans to remember: Remember those we lost and those who are left behind.<\/p>\n<p>But as we remember \u2014 as we all remember, I also ask us to act.  To remain vigilant, to sa- \u2014 stay socially distanced, to mask up, get vaccinated when it\u2019s your turn.  We must end the politics and misinformation that has divided families, communities, and the country, and has cost too many lives already.  It\u2019s not Democrats and Republicans who are dying from the virus.  It\u2019s our fellow Americans.  It\u2019s our neighbors and our friends \u2014 our mothers, our fathers, our sons, our daughters, husbands, wives. <\/p>\n<p>We have to fight this together, as one people, as the United States of America.  That\u2019s the only way we\u2019re going to beat this virus, I promise you.  The only way to spare more pain and more loss \u2014 the only way these millstones [sic] no longer mark our national mourning \u2014 these milestones, I should say \u2014 no longer mark our national mourning.  Let this not be a story of how far we fell, but of how far we climbed back up.  We can do this. <\/p>\n<p>For in this year of profound loss, we have seen profound courage from all of you on the frontlines.  I know the stress, the trauma, the grief you carry.  But you give us hope.  You keep us going.  You remind us that we do take care of our own.  That we leave nobody behind.  And that while we have been humbled, we have never given up.  We are America.  We can and will do this.<\/p>\n<p>In just a few minutes, Jill and I, Kamala and Doug, will hold a moment of silence here in the White House \u2014 the People\u2019s House, your house.  We ask you to join us to remember, so we can heal; to find purpose in the work ahead; to show that there is light in the darkness. <\/p>\n<p>This nation will smile again.  This nation will know sunny days again.  This nation will know joy again.  And as we do, we will remember each person we\u2019ve lost, the lives they lived, the loved ones they left behind.  We will get through this, I promise you.  But my heart aches for you \u2014 those of you who are going through it right now. <\/p>\n<p>May God bless you all, particularly those who have lost someone.  God bless you.<\/p>\n<p>6:11 P.M. EST<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, DC&#8230;Each day, I receive a small card in my pocket that I carry with me in my schedule. It shows the number of Americans who have been infected by or died from COVID-19. Today, we mark a truly grim, heartbreaking milestone: 500,071 dead. That\u2019s more Americans who have died in one year in this [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":115108,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,5,4,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-government","category-life-style","category-news","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/153620663_136909251711260_2586053136303869907_o.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=115107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115107\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/115108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=115107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=115107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=115107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}