It's a little hard to tell, but the @NC_Governor mansion is lit up to honor those who died from COVID-19

I thought it would be more lit up, but while you're here, let me offer some soboring stats.

8,000+ dead, just in NC

A big percentage of those are in the 75+ age categories, an age group that often suffers in silence

In NC, we lost 900k jobs, or about 17% of the total number of people employed. But it's the service workers who bore the brunt of those losses. Again, a marginalized group

Nevermind the many who didn't lose their jobs, but had to work in conditions that didn't adequately protect them from the virus. Meat processing facilities especially, as the @ncwatchdognet wrote about extensively: https://www.wunc.org/post/meat-processing-plant-outbreaks-reveal-failures-nc-s-regulatory-oversight-0

In US, we are up to 330k deaths. That's more than 100 times 9/11. But what's the big difference about those victims? Those in the twin towers were well paid, mid-career, mostly white. I just wonder how things might be different if those were the victims of this pandemic?

Of course, misinformation spread by those who are out only for themselves plays a massive role. And when those who are harmed don't look like you, it's perhaps expedient to buy in to those lies. This is clearly a big factor

And actually, there's a way in which the pandemic has actually been GOOD for a lot of people, especially white-collar workers with money invested. There have been 56 newly minted billionaires since the onset of the pandemic.

I personally don't know anyone who has died. And maybe that's my point. I'm white, 37, have a job where WFH has been smooth. I've not missed a paycheck, and my 401k has improved.

I guess I just wish people could do more to put others first. To think of your fellow man before yourself. To put yourself in someone else's shoes. Someone who has it harder than you. Blessed are the poor in spirit....