It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the fact that we’re still having this conversation is the biggest tragedy of the humankind to not have learned enough about how an infectious disease caused by an airborne can stop our collective daily life in its tracks to know better to trust our public health officials and doctors more importantly when it comes to measures that make sense to protect ourselves in the best ways we can. I want to believe that most people are aware that mask wearing, for example, does not cause lower oxygenation levels but are simply too selfish and ignorant to follow the advice of those who know better for the greater good of the humanity that they themselves are part of.

I have a deviated septum and constantly need to clean my nose from buildup to be able to breathe but even then I wear my mask because the health of those around me matters. I would love to not wear my mask so I can get to know those I am around with better, I often say that when we take our masks off, whenever the hell that will be, that we should reintroduce ourselves to each other. Our minds are programmed to fill in the gaps and we think we know how certain people look behind their masks when we actually don’t, we do that all the time because we’re too afraid to investigate but in this case we can’t even consider that option because we have our health to think about and not satisfying our basic curiosities.

Also, lastly but not least, mask wearing doesn’t make me any cuter, I have long hair and bad vision and that kinda clashes with mask wearing. I know that, that last one sounds like the most trivial unimportant thing ever but to someone struggling with self-esteem and body dysmorphia it can mean a huge deal. All and all the moral of this story is, wearing a mask works, it protects those around you and in a boomerang fashion it ends up protecting YOU because YOU are setting the example for someone out there who could be potentially contagious whether they are vaccinated or not to wear a mask themselves. Wearing a mask matters because for one, it’s considerate and shows you care and perhaps sets the example for others to be more considerate in a society that is clearly callous about human life.