The cortex of the human brain has no limits. It will continue to bob and weave through wars, recessions and pandemics. We are irrepressible thinkers, chewing on past, present and future in circuitous and sometimes foolish ways.
As a devotee of foolishness as relief from bad news, I have been observing the versatility of face protections now being sported by the Pandemic Populace. Animal snouts, gargoyles, cartoon characters and the like, are now replacing the plain old surgical mask. I hope this doesn’t catch on since I don’t want to wake up from a medical procedure to Dr. Grumpy and Nurse Sneezy or any of the other Seven Dwarves.
I have seen people wiping their faces with masks, hanging masks from their car mirrors, and dropping their used masks as a fetid reminder of what we are all enduring. Because of the boredom of no social interaction, we can use our masks as “drool bibs,” to catch the careless saliva that emanates from the slack jaw!
There are still people who refuse to wear masks. The disapproval from mask-wearers is hidden behind their face coverings as the non-wearers leave their possible Covid contrail. What are people thinking? I am wondering if there will be a National Mask Removal Day when we all unveil ourselves? Will we resume normal facial expressions or will that take time? Will we feel exposed, self-conscious?
This period in our history will be chronicled as have been other disasters. People will remember “sheltering in place” and the financial and sociological hangover from it all. In a way, when we experience such things, the historical events of the past become more real. It is as if all of history collapses into this moment joining us to people whose earthly voices have long been silenced.
The human experience continues.
With love, Rosanne Bostonian
