Photo by C Drying at Unsplash
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the folks who don’t want to wear a mask, and I want to say to them, “I hear you.”
First of all, there’s no question in my mind, masks are really annoying. I wear glasses and they’re always fogging up when I wear my mask. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten into my car only to realize, sometimes after I’ve driven away, that I’ve forgotten my mask and have to go back home to get it.
And even though medical experts say I’m getting enough oxygen when I wear one, masks sure do make it harder to breathe. They make me claustrophobic, and when you’re in a store with other people, you can’t see them smile. I’m an extrovert and I like to make people smile and laugh, so masks kill that little bit of happiness for me too.
As for the “masks are unconstitutional” argument, as a fanatical seat belt wearer (I’ve been in a couple of very serious accidents and the seat belt saved my life), and as someone who believes in vaccines (I sure hope we get a COVID-19 vaccine really soon), and as the obnoxious guy who yells at drivers speeding down our narrow street – “Slow down! There are kids out here!” – I’m not quite understanding why I shouldn’t at least consider the possibility that I might be an asymptomatic spreader and I ought to give some thought to protecting the minimum wage staff of my local supermarket (I know many of them by name) who are just trying to feed their families and stay healthy enough to provide me with the stuff I need.
So at the end of the day, yeah, I agree with the people who don’t want to wear a mask: they are definitely super annoying, inconvenient and feel like a government intrusion on my personal life. I respect your point of view, because in many ways, I share it.
But, I’m going to wear a mask anyway because more than anything, I want to protect myself, my family and my community from even more harm than this damn virus has already done. What’s more patriotic than that?
