There is reason to be upset

“Don't get upset about it.” That's what my husband said because I was crying about a friend who had died a month ago. Our English friends, so aptly named the Cheers - Tom and Eileen.

I talk to Eileen often since Tom died. Yesterday she watched Tom's leased car being driven away. She watched it disappearing like a riderless horse, the last image of something kinetic, still moving, disappearing leaving a trail of memories of Tom going to work, to rugby games or to their granddaughter's school to pick her up and take her to swimming lessons. Tom at the wheel. Tom going places and coming home. Eileen never complains, reminisces or cries on the phone. She only sighs and says, “Oh well.” An English woman with a stiff upper lip going through this wrenching experience in the time of a pandemic.

I am sorry for the loss of a dear friend and sorry that we cannot be with Eileen. I am sad that when the world should come together to fight a common enemy we choose to bicker with our neighbors, blatantly murder in front of witnesses, fight wearing a mask to help fend off the virus, to randomly shoot at babies, their parents and grandparents.

All this division and vicious hate when we need togetherness and cooperation to fight a pandemic that threatens us all. An unconstitutional pandemic depriving us of life, liberty and the pursuit of some happiness.

There will probably be no family left untouched. There may be no circle of friends completely intact. There will be gaps and we will miss them for all our lives. I think it's something to be upset about.

Jo Lewinski

Glen Ellyn