The Cost of Freedom

Less than a year after the first cases were identified here in the United States, over 300,000 Americans have now died from infection with COVID-19. The last global pandemic was the 1918 flu pandemic, which was estimated to have caused about 675,000 deaths in the United States and 50 million worldwide. We are already almost half way to that US total with COVID-19.  

I started wondering how this compares with combat deaths in various wars in which this country has been involved, both here and abroad.

 

Rank	War	Years	Deaths
1	World War II	1941–45	291,557
2	American Civil War	1861–65	218,222
3	World War I	1917–18	53,402
4	Vietnam War	1955–75	47,434
5	Korean War	1950–53	33,686
6	American Revolutionary War	1775–83	8,000
7	Iraq War	2003–2011	3,836
8	War of 1812	1812–15	2,260
9	War in Afghanistan	2001–present	1,833
10	Mexican–American War	1846–49	1,733

 

In other words, we have lost more American lives to this virus in less than a year than during four years of combat in World War II. Although I suppose one could argue that these numbers pale next to the 75 million total deaths during World War II, this is not a record any right-minded person would want to claim.

And that brought to mind the song “Find the Cost of Freedom” written by Stephen Stills in 1970:

 

Find the cost of freedom
Buried in the ground
Mother Earth will swallow you
Lay your body down

 

Because it was often paired with David Crosby’s “Daylight Again,” a song about the Civil War, I always thought it was about that war, but in fact it may have been written more with the War in Vietnam in mind.

Why am I thinking about this song? Because it suddenly came into my head as a song about COVID-19. Many of the people who have denounced the public health measures required to bring this under control have cited “freedom” as justification. But for far too many Americans, the cost of freedom is now buried in the ground. If they continue to believe that their freedom includes their right to refuse to be vaccinated, Mother Earth may indeed swallow far more of us.

I am sorry to be so grim. Much as I should be feeling hopeful that help is on the way, I remain concerned that too many Americans may not be able to do the right thing.

So, continue to be careful!

Love,                                           

Rebecca