As of last week, most of our students are back in school. Labor Day weekend is known to some as the last hurrah of summer. The seasons will begin to change this month and a bit of normality will find its way back in our lives again – or some may hope.
We’ve come far during the last year with this pandemic and yet, now that schools are back in session, it’s beginning to feel like we are backtracking. Fear of this new virus variant is taking a front-row seat in some of our lives and the battle between what is right and what is wrong is turning neighbor against neighbor.
Some schools are requiring students to wear masks while others are leaving it up to the discretion of the parents. In any case, opinions and emotions have begun to surface again as we take it upon ourselves to point fingers at who we deem a decent human and who we deem is not.
Even though masking has been proven to help keep viruses and germs away, there are those who will argue they do no good, and they will show you their “facts” to prove it. Wearing masks is new to our country, but it’s a method that has been used in other countries for years, even before the pandemic. With anything that is new there will always be big debates until enough time has passed and enough proof has been given.
The unfortunate thing about all of this is our reaction to it and how we are treating each other. Those who wear a mask are called sheep and fearmongers, while those who don’t are considered selfish and uneducated. The hope is someday people will realize wearing a mask has nothing to do with politics and the name-calling just makes us all sound like irrational babies.
Maybe they help, maybe they don’t. I’m sure whatever “facts” you find on it will mirror your own personal beliefs. In the end all that really matters is we are creating an environment for our kids, and they are always watching. What will they see when they look at you?
It doesn’t matter if we find out 50 years from now that masks don’t actually work. Those of us who put the masks on will look back on this time and know they did whatever they could to protect themselves and those around them and it really was no sweat.
The bottom line is there is nothing wrong with wearing a mask. It simply means you desire to protect yourself, your family and those in the community who have a weakened immunity. So stop the insults; they’re not becoming for any of us.
