If The Pandemic is a Kindness Test for Americans, We’re Failing
If this whole pandemic is a test of how kind we can be to our fellow humans, I think it's clear some of us are failing. A trip to a New Hartford store yesterday solidified that for me.
The CDC head says that the whole pandemic could be under control in 4 to 8 weeks, if we all just wear our masks. In another case, two COVID-positive hairdressers served 139 clients - not one of them got sick, because the hairdressers wore masks.
Let's make this clear: you don't wear a mask to protect yourself, you wear it to protect everyone else. It's an act of kindness for your fellow man, like giving blood or donating to charity.
Somehow, wearing a mask has become one of the most debated points of this whole pandemic, with one side suggesting mask-wearers are 'sheep' and allowing our 'Constitutional rights to be stripped away.' The other side (which I'm happy to admit I am firmly on) believes in the CDC, science, and the American tradition of caring about their fellow man.
Yesterday, at TJ Maxx, several customers were seen with masks below their noses, or lowered off their faces entirely. Of course, a part of me wants to say something, but then I think about all those videos I've seen of people going ballistic - and I reconsider. Is this where we are as a country?
I argue that wearing a mask is the MOST patriotic, most American thing we can do right now.
Should a retail worker have to work for 8 hours in a place where customers can't be bothered to wear a mask - while simultaneously being unable to enforce the rules, either through corporate policy or out of fear for their safety? Is this the kind of people we want to be? Is that the kind of person you want to be?
Put on your mask. It's not that hard.
Agree or disagree? Let me know beth@lite987.com
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