Thinking of Masks

This is the way I used to think about masks:

Halloween kids wearing masks to transform themselves into magical characters, my mother hiding behind a mask of cigarette smoke, my youngest daughter’s vehement fear of masks and clowns, the masked Lone Ranger riding to the rescue on his white horse Silver, thieves wearing them when shooting up a liquor store, ladies at costume balls with sparkling masks to create intrigue, and raccoons, those four-legged bandits whose natural masks and plump striped bodies make them incredibly cute.

And TODAY…

It’s August of 2020 and we are wearing masks all over this country (and the world) to save lives, ours and the lives of others around us. We walk our streets, enter our businesses, get on busses, and into cars, shielding ourselves from others to keep the killer COVID virus at bay.

There are rules posted everywhere. Health officials spoke and they told us this is the correct and necessary plan to mitigate this pandemic along with distancing and hand washing. After five months of confusing messages and our incompetent federal governing, we have epic suffering and almost 5 million cases in this country.

Should we be listening now (finally)?

I can’t speak for others exactly, but I imagine that in the hearts of most people in our communities there is compassion, concern, and a sense of heightened responsibility toward our fellow beings. At the same time sadly a fierce resistance has shown up, triggered by political views and a seeming need to stand up for our individual rights. And, to those people, I ask: what is the most sacred of our human rights?

Yes – it’s the right to life – to have a life. When I put on a mask I feel many things: I have the sense of being separated from my fellow humans, I feel sad I can’t see people’s smiles, their innate friendly selves. I feel sorry for the dogs who, like mine, are often agitated by all the masked bodies walking among them, sometimes I am annoyed at my glasses fogging up, and I feel a sense of responsibility… I do not feel resistant.

There’s urgency all around us in this country as we collectively mark this terrible point of being at the top of the list in numbers of cases worldwide, and this urgency says we can change the course of this plague if we all do our part. The important word here is ALL. We must listen and follow the scientific wisdom, to create change, and to heal the wounds of our painful divide.

Our collective human spirit is formidable.

We just have to stop each day before we enter the world and ask ourselves how much we value our own life, the lives of all we know and love, and the lives of those unknown to us. How do we feel about our world?

What is wrong with standing up for healing and future life for all?

Warmly,

Mag