Yesterday I walked by London’s COVID memorial wall. At first I didn’t realize what it was so thought it was just corny and cute 鈾ワ笍 — a fun interactive art installation. Even took some selfies with E, he looked confused as to why I would want to. I’ve since deleted them after learning the true meaning — more so because I had meant the photo to be something that it was not, but it made me realize how important context is. We all live in our own contextualized world. If E had never told me what it really was or I hadn’t seen the sign, someone would probably judge me for it. Should you, can you judge someone based off of their ignorance? Would it be better to just let someone think something if it makes them happier? Who’s to judge happiness? Because we can’t and because it’s different for each person I guess we shouldn’t and so “the truth” is always better? I watched a movie recently (“based on a true lie”) in which an entire family faked a wedding because gma had cancer and they didn’t want her to know. Apparently in China this is “okay” — even the doctor was in on it.
Coming back to the wall. I felt a solemnity after I found out, more so because it was such an immediate contrast from what I had thought it to be. I felt stupid and silly, unaware of the “real” world. I started looking at the writings more closely. A lot of the same sentiment, however, the fact that they are not novel does not take away from them as the entire wall dealt with death and loss, the deepest of them all. There were some people who wrote multiple names as they had lost multiple people. I’m ever so thankful that I have not lost even one.
