Blog 4
My mask arrived in the mail last week. A handmade one from my daughter. I don’t know why I’d been putting off buying or wearing one. Probably ego. I didn’t want to look weak or fearful. It sat on the desk in my office for a couple of days before I actually put it on and went out.
It was a different world behind the mask. It was weird. I was breathing like Darth Vader. And more than a little bit self-conscious. Was everyone looking at me? Judging me — uh oh, what’s he got? The truth is, nobody could have cared. Everyone was dealing with their own fears.
I had been self-isolating and social distancing whenever I was out, respecting people’s space but not really understanding, “Why the mask?”
Then, the other day, I heard New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo say, “You don’t wear a mask for YOU — you wear it out of respect for ME — so you don’t get me sick and spread the virus.” You could be asymptomatic — cabable of spreading the virus — even if you’re not feeling its affects.
I had it all wrong. And that’s when I realized that wearing a mask was a little like being a superhero. Doing it for others. That’s the superhero way.
So, don’t be selfish. Wear a mask. Spread the love — not the virus.
And wash your hands!