The pain supersedes the blame. No dereliction in construction and no reform of building codes can begin to occupy the minds and souls of the bereaved families.
All the more because of the waiting, the silent, indeterminate waiting, the enormity of the crushed, compacted metal and concrete, the slowness of the search, the hopes dashed, the prayers unanswered, the helplessness of all those who typically could and would help — clergy, police, EMTs, politicians. All struck dumb.
Lonely vigils. Faces pasted on makeshift memorials. Experts at a loss. A nation transfixed, also helpless. Hispanic surnames. Jewish surnames. The suddenness, the oddness, of the collapse. Fears of further collapse nearby as well as up and down the Florida coast.
The shared humanity and sorrow. The existential limitations of human existence.
Copyright © 2021 by the Intermountain Jewish News
