Lyrics from Elton John's song "Empty Garden"

I've been knockin'
But no one answers,
I've been knockin'
Most all the day...

When I hear this song it makes me very emotional, because I remember that Elton John wrote it in honor of his dear friend John Lennon, who was killed at the Dakota in Manhattan. A life so tragically lost because of a gun in the possession of a deranged killer. John Lennon, a gifted musician and man of peace who died, ironically, from a violent act. Guns, and often, viruses, take no prisoners.

The virus we are dealing with has presented itself horrifically in so many ways. And the virus has, like an unpredictable, and evil force, taken on each and every world leader. Like an opponent landing a knockout punch when you weren't looking, it caught our "leader" completely off guard; our country's collective thinking was that it wouldn't affect us in our protective American bubble. Especially during the past few years, Americans were enjoying a false sense of economic prosperity, mixed with invincibility and "we don't need anybody-so stay out" isolationism. "It will disappear by April" was a comment offered by our "leader" with cocky assurance (those words came back to bite with a vengeance.) We relaxed and didn't want to hear scientific based facts (and if we did, we only became more frustrated knowing that the people in power who needed to listen to the science, weren't!) The silent enemy made itself loud and clear when it was allowed to burn like a raging fire; if you weren't from a place where the leaders were smart enough to use precious time as a water hose, the fire would consume you. And it did, and it continues to leave many areas with a staggering loss of life.

For every single life lost, there are people who mourn and grieve each loss. So numbers in the tens, hundreds and thousands of lost lives multiply into the millions of grieving hearts. And maybe billions. And when time was lost and there were no more life lines to use, it inevitably became the issue of having to choose who would live or die. For doctors and other medical professionals who live by the Hippocratic oath, it's a situation no one wants to be put in, and having to make "the choice" is perhaps the most dire consequence of this entire horror show. One ventilator-maybe you could split it in two, but not into ten. So who gets to live? And who's left?

Oh I've been calling,
Hey hey Johnny,
Can you come out
to play?
Johnny? Can you come out to play
In your empty garden...