In the past consistently I have not been reluctant to make fun of those individuals who appear to be incessant face-mask wearers. However on Christmas Day at church I had a “re-think” of sorts.
Shortly after the service had started, I observed that a middle-aged gentleman entered church with his wife. Whereas he was wearing a mask, his wife wasn’t. They sat in a pew that was well removed from any other church attendees.
In my mind as I was beginning denigrate the mask-wearing gentleman, I was having second thoughts about my rush to judgement. Perhaps because it was Christmas, I began to think more charitably. Could it be that there was a reasonable explanation for his wearing of the mask ?
Actually, I did think of two reasons that could sensibly explain his behavior.
Could it be that he has some type of serious medical condition and is undergoing chemotherapy? Granted masks are far from the perfect defense against an infection, but if an individual is in a compromised situation, perhaps, even a little bit can help.
In addition, could it be that he was on the tail end of a recent Covid infection? As there seems to be a significant increase in Covid just recently, could it be that he was following the old recommendations of isolating for five days, and then masking and distancing from others for an additional five days?
Certainly either explanation could explain his masking while in church on Christmas Day.
I felt good that I was able to come up with a charitable explanation on Christmas. No, I did not follow him to his car. If he had continued wearing the face-mask while in his car, then all of my charitable thoughts would have been for nought!
12/29/23