i want to add:
if you’ve stopped masking for whatever reason, you can start again.
it makes spaces more accessible, it helps preserve your health and the health of the people around you.
it’s a tiny action you can take to make the world safer.
I've been on a 14 hour and a 16 hour train ride on two seperate days last week.
All that time. Through the WHOLE OF GERMANY, i have seen ONE person aside from myself who wore a mask.
I felt like the biggest monkey on the planet.
Maybe. But all the "stats" and "reason" dont help me when i feel like "that guy" again. Always the weirdo, always the odd one out.
People didnt seem sick either, or showed any usual covid signs.
Its hard to keep up...
I went to a week long work conference back in February where I was the only person at my big company's sales and marketing meeting to wear a mask, and I wore my Flo mask so it stood out even more. It sucks to feel alienated, and I get it. Without the mask on I'm weird enough as it is.
The cognitive dissonance of people having fun unmasked vs me in my moderately sweaty mask knowing that I am making the right decision for the long run fucking sucks ass. But then a ton of them got covid from each other on the trip. It's a lifelong ant and grasshopper story at this point.
Ill never know how many trips and outings I took when I masked without needing to. But I've decided I'd rather choose that than know for SURE that I didn't mask when I should have.
Maybe thats the big thing about this that terrifies me so much.
Seeing tons of people around me, with nobody having the brain/social capacity to do the right thing...
Well that makes me just feel awful about the state of the world.
But even though i trust science, there is always that lingering doubt that comes from 'herd mentality'.
I hope this whole situation changes some day, for the better.
