My view on the “end” of the Covid19 Mask Period (for some of us at least…)
Good afternoon/evening/morning or whenever you read this. My name is John W. and I’m from Philadelphia, PA. And when I’m not happen to be doing this whole writing thing (as a hobby for now but hopefully as a new career because why the hell not?) I’m one of those “essential superworkers” who worked through this Covid19 pandemic at a un-named supermarket (out of respect for them because well….it’s complicated) with a smile on my face (with the mask on of course) and a mix of joy/fear/sadness/delight all beaming in my mind and heart.
So imagine my emotions when we all heard the recent CDC’s announcement about that if you’ve been fully vaccinated (BOTH SHOTS unless its the one shot Johnson and Johnson special), that life can go back to whatever normal was for you mask free!
Happiness?
Joy?
Relief?
How about all of that mixed in with a hell of a lot of enlightenment?
I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m just as happy about this as the rest of y’all are about us doing away with the mask/restrictions thing….
BUT (and this is a BIG BUT…)
Who in here feels as though they’re not 100% comfortable with the whole “get back to normal” thing just yet? Besides me of course.
Who in here feels like that because of what they’ve went through/experienced and witnessed out of people that maybe just maybe….they’re not ready to go and burn their masks to ashes (even if they’ve already did their part to make sure they did the right thing)?
Because after all that my eyes seen and what my ears have heard and what my mind/heart been through this past year and some months of this….
I am most certainly the hell NOT there just yet.
Wai-wha-but why?
Well….because in order for me to actually be 100% comfortable and go mask less, I first have to acknowledge that I’m 100% comfortable that 100% of people have done/are going to do the right thing and got themselves taken care of via getting vaccinated/acknowledge the 3 (not 6) foot rule of space/continue to use their mask if they haven’t gotten vaccinated yet.
And ladies and gentleman, I DO NOT have that level of comfort yet.
I mean, I know I’m good. I’m 100% fine on this end. And that I can be comfortable with. And with that I shouldn’t worry about this thing about not being able to control others actions and letting them dictate your situation/life. All of that, I acknowledge and can deal with.
It’s just….I don’t have faith in ALL of my fellow human beings that they’ve done the same. Therefore, until I feel as though I’ve regained said faith and comfort….as the artist known as Future would say….”Mask On”.
And maybe just maybe….with all of the nonsense that we’ve been seeing and hearing with the antivaxxers/antimaskers/any of the GOP’ers who’ve been calling this a crock of shit from day 1 (cough cough Rand Paul, Ron DeSantis, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, etc, etc)…maybe the mask thing is a good thing. Maybe just maybe this mask that’s been my comfort for the past year and a half will be my shield/saving grace that’ll pull me through the last bits of this. Maybe just maybe….
We’ll see I guess.
Until then, God Bless and Good Night
John W. (j_white21_@hotmail.com)