“What is the point of masks?” Hearing that question from someone you love and who claims to love you is so incredibly painful.
Me. My life. That’s the point.
By choosing not to wear a mask in shared spaces, not only are you actively endangering people’s lives and contributing to the spread of a disease that is permanently disabling people, you’re also essentially exiling hundreds of thousands of people from society.
We can’t go to the shops or use public transport. We can’t go to the cinema or go watch our favourite band. Leaving the house at all is like running the gauntlet. We have to be on high alert at all times, making sure no one gets too close. We have to suffer snide comments and have people aggressively cough in our direction.
How did we get here? How did wanting to stay alive and protect your community become something that makes people angry. Why are we considered radicals for wanting a few basic safety measures to protect us during a pandemic?
I understand the desire to get back to normal - don’t you think we’d love to be able to do that too? But I’m not comfortable with “normal” coming at the expense of people’s lives and health. If that makes me a radical, so be it.
One thing I do wonder though, especially of the people I know consider themselves liberals, why/how are you so comfortable with that? Why are you listening to the advice (or lack thereof) of a government you know doesn’t care about marginalised people? Why are you so ok with the fact that people like me are looking at a lifetime of isolation?
You can tell me it’s personal choice all you like, but when your personal choice endangers my life I will not respect or accept it.
What’s the point of masks? The point is to care about other people. To recognise that you have a responsibility to your fellow human beings. The point is to acknowledge that we are all interdependent and so however personal you think your choices are, they impact other people. They have consequences.
If you’re comfortable with vulnerable people never being allowed to re-enter society, then it’s my personal choice to keep calling you out on your selfishness, however distasteful or “radical” you find it.