Unmasked Marauders

Last week I saw TV coverage of protesters outside a state capitol building. One of these folks, not wearing a mask, was a man carrying a sign with a message to the effect that it was his body and the government couldn’t tell him what to do with it. I thought, geez, haven’t I heard that somewhere before?

What do you want to bet that this fellow is in favor of seeing the Supreme Court strike down Roe v. Wade? Yet, I’m also willing to bet that if his neighbor’s house was damaged by a tornado, he would rush right over to help out

The coronavirus is pushing us to behave in ways that go against human nature. Staying home doesn’t feel very heroic. If we do go out, we are still asked in many jurisdictions to wear at least a cloth mask, not to protect ourselves from COVID but to protect others from US.

The preacher who says that if God wanted us to wear masks, we would have been supplied one at birth does have a point, but for the moment, it seems to be prudent to wear one when we’re out and about. Even as things start to re-open, following this simple rule is the least of our burdens. There’s a lot of debate about whether masks are sanitary, but it seems they are better than nothing. We could have a spare or two available if we need to clean or wash the one ye’ve been wearing. I’m not into shaming people not wearing them. But circumstances may force these non-participants to change their ways, even those in the White House.

A couple of things I have noticed: Though a mask doesn’t cover the eyes, it seems to contribute to tunnel vision. When we’re in a supermarket, we may not always see the folks on either side of us while we are on our particular mission. While masks are  uncomfortable, unlike medical workers, bus drivers, and store clerks, most of us have them on for relatively short periods of time for those external trips.

There is something almost Middle Eastern going on here. We Americans, especially we men, get to feel like  those women in strict Islamic countries forced to cover most of their faces. I have a little joke that those women could teach their counterparts in less-restrictive regions a thing or two about eye makeup, but it must be awful having to wear what some like to call a bee suit.

To get back to those protesters hereabouts, however, they can say all they want about being patriots and how forced mask-wearing interferes with their Constitutional rights. All I can say back is, when it comes to defending the Constitution, there must be better battles to pick than this one.