collective grief: have you broken down and cried over all the deaths so far?

Fiona

Fiona

New Member
Location
Maryland (but from Texas)
This morning when I watched NY Governor Andrew Cuomo's daily press conference (I don't live in NY, but I think we can all learn from the lessons NY is learning right now) and saw that over 5700 New Yorkers had died of this virus, my eyes teared up a bit. Afterwards, I went to the Worldometer site and saw that over 81,000 have died worldwide of COVID-19. I broke down and cried for a while.

This wasn't a mood swing from cabin fever. This was grief over human sufffering.

Has it happened, is it happening, to you?

I have a dear friend who lives near me who's a nurse in a short-term rehab unit (stroke victims and the like): she's lost one patient to the virus, had to send another out to a hospital for severe respiratory problems, has 10 more who are symptomatic and awaiting test results, and is now quarantined herself with a sore throat, cough, laryngitis, & ear infections (awaiting test results).

And I have very close friends in northern New Jersey and NYC.

So it's starting to feel personal as well as collective.

Perhaps it's a weird thing to say, but I think those of us who can cry, should let our tears flow... I'm not talking about wallowing in bad news. I don't spend more than half an hour a day getting caught up on this topic. I'm talking about dealing with our emotions as they arise—not bottling them up inside until they burst out in an angry outburst or something.

—just an opinion,

Fi
 

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Yes, the grief over human suffering. Fiona, You have opened the heart of your soul to caring for those outside your own needs. Your angels are elated! This tenderness and compassion is a tremendous growth of the soul! Yes, This has happened to me many times since this began. This empathy and tenderness reflects the beauty of your soul. I think many people are experiencing the same thing. Men, of course, won't admit to feeling this. But, You're not alone in what you are feeling.
 

Lee said:
Usually I cry easily over little things but yet now that Fiona has started this post I am now wondering why I have not cried over this...asking myself why and what is wrong with me.
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People react to death, pain, loss in different ways. Nothing is wrong with you. From your posts, you're one of the most compassionate people I've encountered. You're probably a strong,courageous woman!
 
No, I haven’t. I rarely cry much and death is a part of life. Millions die each year of various things. I do tear up over the situation our entire country is in and for what is to come as a nation. It will change us, as a nation, forever.

It will change the world. But I am not sure it will be for the better.
 
I have felt very sad over the deaths but not cried yet as I am already overwhelmed with other stuff. I did cry today as I talked to my oldest brother who has dementia and is in a hospital (it's call a reactivation centre while he waits for a long term place to become available) and he doesn't know what is happening and why he can't go home and why I can't visit.
 
IrisSenior said:
I have felt very sad over the deaths but not cried yet as I am already overwhelmed with other stuff. I did cry today as I talked to my oldest brother who has dementia and is in a hospital (it's call a reactivation centre while he waits for a long term place to become available) and he doesn't know what is happening and why he can't go home and why I can't visit.
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I am sorry for your brother’s condition. My son with Down’s syndrome does not really understand either. It is so painful for us whose relatives, for whatever reason, think they are in trouble or unwanted. I hope it is over soon so you can visit him.
 
No I don't believe I've cried over this ..and I'm a very emotional person usually..

..However I could have easily cried with utter rage and despair at the nutters (mainly from the opposition) reported in the media who were tweeting that they wished for the death of our PM Boris Johnson who is currently in the ICU fighting for his life with the Covid-19 virus ...what is wrong with people that they can wish for a horrible death for someone who has committed no harm to anyone ...
 
I'm not there yet ...tend to get emotional after a crisis is over. I need to engage in activity ...escapist or productive while something is ongoing. So am making masks, gardening, stress eating, spending time outdoors, spending too much time online, reading, taking long baths.

Learned in counseling that the feelings will come when I'm strong enough.
 
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What I don't get is this: The officials claim that if you wash your hands and don't touch your face, that you should be fine and that this isn't airborne. Yet they turn around and recommend masks because you COULD get it just breathing.

So with masks in place and all this hand washing how is it all these people keep coming down with it and dying?? Are they just not washing? What?
 
Not a single tear. But that doesn't mean I won't at some point. Right now grief is in about third place behind boredom and fear of the unknown future
 

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