Numb and Number (the ultra comparative)

By ice rivers
- 423 reads
We're getting numb over here.
Still we manage to smile
3300 Americans died of Covid yesterday
More than Pearl Harbor
More than 9-11
Very sensitive subjects.
Supposedly there is no comparative degree for "numb"
You're either numb or you're not.
Which leads us to number.
The numbers makes us even more numb than the original numbness
We see numbing numbers every time we turn on the news
They begin to lose all meaning
until we lose a friend or family member
Then the numbness wears off
The smile disappears
Our friend wasn't a number
He was flesh and blood
Numbers are never real
They're simply symbols
Jimmy was real
He was a smiler
He became a number to the person
who counts up these figures
The person who keeps our numbness up to date
The ultra comparative
the unsmiling numbererer.
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Comments
The numbers are frightening
The numbers are frightening and extreme, and yet people become numb to them, until someone we know is affected. You relate the horror of this very effectively.
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