After faithfully masking in public for a year now—well, now, ’cause we had to—Texans have been told it’s no longer mandated across the state. “Yahoo!” was my first giddy reaction. Then I started thinkin’ on it. The news indicates Texas’ stats on the virus and related deaths are not coming down in an astounding turnabout of good luck. And, yes, every day now many in droves are getting the vaccine including yours truly. After my first dose, I was overwhelmed by a renewed sense of optimism, like I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I mean, PTL! But I’ve never been one to separate modern medicine and religious faith. They go hand in hand in my book.
The line for the vaccine, however, was unexpectedly long with hardly anyone paying attention to social distance markers except for me. And then people actually butted in line, yes breaking right ahead of me. They knew well I was there first, and still anxious individuals and couples just broke in line. I must look like a push over, and I am to some extent but within seconds knew the score and toughened up with a look that said, “Try it, punk.” The punks were senior citizens. It was like everyone for himself, full panic mode. And we were in line to get the long-awaited presumed life-saving societal normalizing VACCINE.
Walk the line
After slowly moving through the ever-expanding outdoor line to the hospital, still with newcomers darting in and out and breaking in front of attendants indoors who obviously avoided verbal altercation, it was my turn. I showed my ID, got my temperature checked and met all the other screening questions. Cleared, I was told to go to the gold elevators. This must be like heaven.
No, just more winding lines upstairs. The halls were lined with chairs where people waited ten minutes after their shot. The shot room was large with maybe twenty stations where nurses screened us some more and went into detail about side effects and asked about allergies. The shot was quick and painless. I quickly removed myself from the crowded room and found an empty chair to wait any quick reactions. Nada. I left the overcrowded hospital doing its part to vaccine millions of Texans. I don’t look forward to dealing with rude people when I return for my second dose.
So when the Governor proclaimed out of nowhere that Texas was removing the mask mandate, I wondered why. Immediately came the counter: He did it to make us all happy and forget about the February deadly winter storm debacle. Millions were out of heat, out of electricity and then out of water and facing insurmountable water damage from busted pipes. What a multi-billion-dollar mess for state and local government not to mention our various electric businesses and of course the tens of thousands of Texans.
Behind the mask
We’re all thrilled down here in Texas to be told we don’t have to wear a mask if we don’t want to, that it should be an individual decision and certainly up to each individual business. Right away, I noticed the list of mega stores like Target insisting the mask mandate would stick at least with employees. I awaited Walmart, but they followed suit, too, and require masks. Seems Big Business just yet will not ‘throw caution to the wind,’ shall we say? Even major city mayors quickly countered the state’s no-mask mandate with a city mask mandate and public buildings’ mandate. All right, already.
The thought of suddenly being mask free left me with mixed feelings. I mean, the end is near, which is great, better than we were just a month ago. We now know there will come a time perhaps even this year that we won’t have to wear masks everywhere we go. For the most part, we don’t wear masks at home, in our cars, visiting relatives or anyone else indoors, and many of us never stopped going to restaurants and didn’t wear masks while eating with strangers though somewhat socially distanced.
Wearing a mask eight to nine hours a day at work taught me I cannot stand it and am so happy I didn’t go into the medical profession. Wearing the mask has almost become a habit, basically a forced routine that even now I tend to forget and have to remind myself to mask up before entering public places. I’ve kept a bag of fresh masks at work, in my car, a few in my purse. I don’t wear it unless I absolutely have to. And at work and just about anywhere I go, I’ll still have to wear a mask until further notice.
I thought after my second shot, I definitely wouldn’t need to wear the mask. After all, the vaccine is about ensuring I don’t get the virus, not me protecting others from getting sick. Like the flu shot, it’s about protecting me not others. But lo and behold, medical scientists who know more about this stuff than the rest of us urge us to continue wearing the damn mask even after vaccinated. It’s about ensuring that others don’t get sick and die from Covid-19.
Throughout this ordeal, I could not wait until we never have to wear masks again. They itch and make my nose run. I frequently lower it to drink water. The mask fogs my glasses. I CANNOT SEE. I cannot breathe. In the early months, my complexion was ruined from sweat around the chin and mouth. I learned to change masks frequently, not unlike a diaper, because of sweat and stinky breath. Along with lots of medical-grade breath mints, I keep disposable facial cleansing clothes at work to wipe my face before putting on my second mask for the day. I guess I go through three to five masks daily during the work week. This is so … stupid. We’re in the most modern age of mankind … and still when it comes to a pandemic, we’re no better off than our grandparents in 1918 or our European ancestors who survived the much more gruesome Black Plague in the Middle Ages.
When we are for real told to ditch the masks, I wonder how hard it will be. We still remember vividly our previous carefree lives: of hugs and kisses; concerts and travel; shaking hands when greeting or meeting someone new; touching one another lightly just for encouragement, just to let people know and feel our care for them. Our emotional and spiritual connection with one another has been broken during the pandemic.
We are humans. We are emotional beings. We are not rational at our core. Our heart is our core. To feel is our essence. Life used to be about experiencing and feeling everything. Instead, we’ve been emotionally stunted—for kids struggling to learn online, intellectually stunted, too. We like to think we are smarter than our emotional selves, but there is no telling what a year or two of mask wearing will do to us psychologically, especially the young ones.
Will we easily be able to put these days of masks and oddness behind us? I work where no one has seen me maskless except online. Guess I’m feeling shy. I’ll have to start lining my lips again and wear lipstick and powder my face—routines I dropped a year ago when figuring out the mask interferes with pride in appearance. The mask allowed a casualness that is appealing to some. But when the masks finally come off for good—when we are assured by medical scientists it’s OK to go bare faced, as God intended—first let us take a deep cleansing breath. And let us never take life on earth for granted again.