Unmasked

What don't you get about "masks required"? I walk around the grocery store dotted with those whose faces are fully exposed to my consternation or others who had somehow not realized that there is breath both inhaled and exhaled through nasal cavities.

The question received no response because it was never asked. It has never been asked, even as we are forced to endure the longest running drama since "As the World Turns".

It is amazing how much I can read into this simple act of defiance. How people I have never seen before, will likely never see again, who have never spoken to me, who do not even know of my existence except in the periphery of a single moment, how these people become caricatures of everything that I find distasteful. I don't merely jump to conclusions. I leap off the tallest building in the world to bathe myself in them.

Every day is spent trying to make the most intelligent decisions I can to protect my welfare, the welfare of my loved ones, my community, as well as yours. And yet I cannot possibly communicate my frustrations at the lack of care, comprehension or consideration exhibited in clear terms by those who do not share my concerns or beliefs. 

We have gone to our respective corners but we do not come out fighting for there is no purpose to it. There will be no winner or loser in our discourse. We throw punches that will miss wildly and do no damage. We speak past, not to, one another. 

So I keep my mouth shut and pull my mask up tightly. And walk out into the fresh air where my animosity falls harmlessly to the ground.

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