May 21, Newburgh. I wonder why the New York Times is reporting a million covid deaths, dramatically presented with last text messages from people ripped right from the middle of their lives. I find the question unexpectedly complex. You don’t think about the thousands of people who die from heart attacks every day, many just as unexpectedly, but candles are lit for ten people killed in a terrorist attack. There seems to be something wrong, scandalous, about the one million covid deaths. It is said that many of them were unnecessary, could have been avoided. What exactly does that mean? They would still be alive if covid hadn’t existed? They would still be alive if people weren’t so stupid and everybody got vaccinated? Or: They would still be alive if people didn’t knowingly do wrong, if politicians imposed stricter lockdowns and people wore masks more consistently? So the dead are a scandal because there are people to blame for their deaths?