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From YouTube: Arlington County COVID-19 Remembrance
Description
This ceremony is to mark those that we have lost to COVID-19 in Arlington County.
A
B
Good
afternoon,
everyone,
my
name,
is
christian
dorsey
and,
on
behalf
of
my
colleagues
here
on
the
county
board,
who
are
all
seated
behind
me
and
we're
pleased
to
be
joined
by
mary
kadera,
a
member
of
the
arlington
school
board.
If
you'd
like
to
welcome
those
of
you
who
have
joined
with
us
today
and
to
those
who
are
tuning
in
on
the
live
stream
of
this
remembrance,
today,
we
are
gathering
to
pause
to
remember
those
lives
that
have
been
lost
to
coven
19
in
arlington.
B
B
B
B
To
begin
our
remembrance,
it
is
my
pleasure
to
introduce
to
you
arlington's
second
poet,
laureate,
who
will
share
a
work
with
us
this
afternoon.
Her
name
is
holly
karapetkova
and
arlington's
poet.
Laureate
serves
as
an
advocate
for
poetry
and
the
literary
arts
and
works
to
advance
arlingtonians
consciousness
and
appreciation
of
poetry
in
its
written
and
its
spoken
forms.
C
Thank
you
christian,
I'm
honored
to
be
here
with
you
all
today
on
this
important
occasion
to
mourn
our
losses,
but
also
to
celebrate
the
resilience
of
our
community.
The
past
years
have
been
really
difficult
for
all
of
us.
I
too
suffered
losses
during
the
pandemic,
and
last
winter
the
winter
of
2021
was
one
of
the
most
difficult
points
in
my
life
I
was
grieving.
I
was
also
helping
my
students,
I'm
a
teacher.
I
was
helping
my
students
grieve
their
losses
and
deal
with
their
mental
health
challenges
due
to
the
social
isolation
and
quarantine.
C
My
daughter
and
I
are
planting
seeds.
It's
early
spring,
the
long
covered
winter
behind
us
more
uncertainty
ahead.
We've
stopped
numbering
our
griefs
started,
holding
tighter
to
the
loved
ones.
Still
with
us,
I
dig
small
holes
with
my
fingers
and
my
daughter
drops
in
seeds.
Then
we
both
smooth
dirt
on
top
when
she
was
younger,
she
worried
the
seeds.
When
the
seeds
disappeared,
she
tried
to
dig
them
up
again
to
make
sure
they
were
okay,
now
she's,
older
patient.
C
She
knows
to
leave
them
alone
to
water
them
and
wait
every
day.
She
goes
out
with
the
watering
can
to
check
and
one
afternoon
about
a
week
later,
she's
jumping
by
the
window
motioning
for
me
to
come
outside
and
see
the
small
green
sprouts
that
will
become
lettuce
or
peas,
wow
she
whispers
and
because
her
wonder,
is
contagious.
C
A
A
A
A
D
D
We
are
now
marking
an
anniversary
that
none
of
us
expected
when
we
first
began
to
try
to
bend
the
curve
two
years
of
living
with
and
seeking
to
overcome,
covet
19.
in
those
two
years.
321
arlingtonians
have
lost
their
lives
to
this
pandemic,
and
for
so
many
of
these
months
the
pandemic
also
denied
the
most
basic
and
familiar
work,
familiar
customs
in
which
we
honor
and
remember
our
loved
ones.
D
We
cannot
restore
their
loved
ones,
but
we
can
listen
and
we
can
support
and,
above
all,
we
can
honor
their
memories.
And
so
we
come
together
now
as
a
community
to
acknowledge
those
we
lost
and
to
pay
tribute
to
all.
They
gave
us
not
because
of
the
tragic
ways
in
which
they
lost
their
lives
to
covid,
but
because
of
the
incredible
lives
they
gave
and
all
that
they
gave
to
our
community.
D
A
A
A
A
B
So
I
will
invite
you
to
participate
with
me
in
something
that
is
borrowed
from
the
jewish
tradition,
as
is
common
for
many
religions.
There
are
rituals
to
remember
those
that
we
never
want
to
forget,
and
so
for
this
litany
of
remembrance,
I
will
issue
a
call.
It
will
be
very
apparent
when
I
stop
and
at
that
point
I
will
invite
you
all
to
respond
by
saying
we
remember
them
at
the
rising
of
the
sun
and
at
its
going
down.