I Wear a Mask

 

I just had an odd experience -- perhaps not "odd" for people elsewhere, but I'd not experienced it before. I was coming out of the grocery store and was walking across the parking lot when a man driving a nice, big, red pickup slowed down and called to me "You know you look ridiculous...) I thought he was referring to the bright pink color in my hair and I was in the midst of waving to him when he finished his statement) "wearing a mask." And suddenly it went from a friendly situation to an unfriendly one. I even felt threatened. With that he drove out of the parking lot.

When I got home, I told my husband about it and he asked if I had shouted back that he was a rude, asshole. I said, "No, but I did look to see if he had balls hanging from the back of his pickup. He didn't."

I just got my third Covid booster and my annual flu shot. I no longer wear my mask during yoga class, but I do wear it at the grocery store, doctor's office (required) and any public indoor venue where there may be a crowd or little children.

I have not, so far, gotten Covid. I do not want to get Covid, or, for that matter, the flu. I do not want to contribute to the spread of either of those viruses and by so doing, increasing the opportunity for viral mutation.

I do not wear a mask to rebuke any who do not wear a mask. It is no more a public statement than the fact that I wear my seatbelt in the car or take my morning meds. 

Our county is rated "Low" in its rate of transmission, which is good, but the data shows 74 people in our county were diagnosed with an active Covid case yesterday. And one person died from Covid yesterday in our county. Yesterday!

I do not want to have any part in data like these, so I will take what precautions I feel necessary for me, including wearing a mask. And I will not feel "ridiculous."