If I Can Do It - So Can You

When I was a newborn, I ended up with a pillow over my face.  It required a visit to the hospital where I was pronounced dead but a persistent doctor continued to work on me and, thankfully, I took that breathe that allowed me to live.  I was 10 days old when this happened and I am still traumatized by anything over my face.  I realize that at 10 days I had no concept of what was happening to me or even any memory but my subconscious knows.  Sixty some years later, that haunt is still very active.  I have tried many times over the years to test this but every time I become panicked and remove whatever I was experimenting with.  Blankets, pillows, sheet, you name it - it totally freaks me out.  I have trouble concentrating, breathing and fighting off the overwhelming need to free myself.

The first time I went out during this pandemic was over 2 months after I started working from home and I wore a mask.  Did I feel anxious - oh yeah.  Thankfully I was more preoccupied with my glasses steaming over than the overwhelming fear that was creeping through my body.  I did have to stop several times and pull the mask away from my mouth and nose for a moment.  Big breathe - next aisle.  My daughter Kaitlin knew this would be hard for me and checked up on me frequently.  When I had had enough and said we needed to go, she knew that meant now.  I was not going to take it off or allow my fears to control me more than they already were.  The anxieties that come just from the unknown of this whole situation, getting Covid-19, being a carrier and not knowing it and the whole tenseness of wearing the mask can be and is overwhelming.  If I can do it - so can you.

No one likes to wear these masks but as members of society we do things all the time that are uncomfortable.  Wearing a protective piece of material over our faces is not natural but for the good of man kind we need to.  There is much scientific evidence that if two people are wearing their masks while in close proximity you are protected from particles that may escape our mouths and our noses.  There is no attacking your civil liberties and if you DO think there is, please explain that to me.  I've asked many people who make that statement and have yet to receive an answer.

Kaitlin has been personally verbally abused while working at the local organic grocery.  Yeah, a hippie store.  She actually had a repeat customer lay hands on her shoulder and say "I'm here to liberate you from your mask".  Other times this customer and others tell the employees (who are all masked) that they are idiots for wearing one.  While our town has a mandate to wear masks while in public, there is no enforcement so people do what they want.

Out of respect for the grocery checkout person, my octogenarian friends, somebody else’s grandma, my neighbors, my coworkers, I’ll choose to wear a mask when I go to places where there are other people in close proximity, so I don’t become the person who infects 4 who infects 16 and so on.

You know, we can do want we want to do - even the hard, seemingly impossible, disgusting things.  I repeat - we can do ANYTHING we want to do.  If people don't want to wear a mask, ultimately, it's their decision - even if most of us don't agree with that decision.  Maybe we should just validate their inability to care about anyone besides them selves.  Own it.  Embrace it.  Be proud of their independence and hope and pray to God that they survive.  It's been said many times during these past 7 months now, we will never know if we over reacted but we will know if we didn't do enough.

#wearthemask #covid-19 #coronavirus #covid #humanstories #itsnotaboutyou