Month: May 2021

Posted on

The Beauty of Gathering

American on Shaky Ground, Part 1

As Joni Mitchel said, you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.  It is also true that we don’t know what we lost till it’s back.   

For 14 long Covid months, either government edict or individual choice restricted the ability of most to gather.  This was a severe loss with far reaching implications.  My first opportunity to gather unfettered was at an outdoor concert in mid-May.  The night was perfect, the music excellent and the crowd happy. All of this was punctuated by a superb display of nature as the sun set over the water.  It was powerful medicine.  I was reminded that gathering is a basic human need that lifts and unites us.   Events of the last year demonstrate the converse is also true, the extended inability to assemble will depress and separate us.  

As I contemplated the positive energy sifting through me and the crowd, I was deeply reminded why the right of assembly is specifically outlined in the 1st Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”  Gathering is power.  

Is it any surprise that communist countries who wield total control over their subjects severely restrict assembly and religion?  We humans are a wily bunch that can be difficult to control.  Separating us from each other and our collective power is a good first step.  It is destabilizing.  Sprinkle in a huge dose of fear and behavior control becomes even easier.  The Covid experience taught us this is absolutely true.  My intention is not to discuss whether Covid restrictions were necessary but to recognize the reality of their impacts.  Covid edicts separated us from essential human needs, injected boundless fear, destabilized us and set the stage for the successful manipulation of millions.   

With this Covid reality firmly understood, I took a few steps up the ladder and realized that there are a good number of destabilizing forces at work in our country.  America is on shaky ground.  For now, let’s not examine why, let’s just examine…

Posted on

Maskless in a Masked World

I am vaccinated and theoretically the risk of catching or transmitting covid is infinitesimal, so I do not wear a mask. It’s a simple concept which is why I am befuddled that mine is the only face on display in most establishments. It is understandable that a high risk vaccinated person may choose to continue masking, but everybody?

Today I ventured into a Whole Foods in Montgomery County, MD.  I was the lone maskless human, as usual.  The store was busy.  A rather aggressive woman told me to put on a mask.  I stated that the requirement for masks has been lifted plus I was vaccinated.  She screeched “I have no idea if you are vaccinated or not”.  I asked if Whole Foods’ requires masks even if the County does not.  She said yes and that I was wrong, the County does require masks indoors.  Hmmm.  I put a mask on so I could check out and left the store.  Because I am done with this nonsense, I did what I do and verified the facts.  Whole Foods follows the local jurisdiction and Mongtomery County had lifted the mask mandate.  No mask required.

Work Sue marched back in.  The mask police were now at the door and asked me to put a mask on.  No.  Please?  No.  I went to customer service where a group of women were standing behind plexiglass and requested to speak to the manager.  These poor women almost toppled over themselves backing away from me, the maskless monster.   “Mam please, please step away”.  Sigh.  I waited for the manager.  He calmly explained that Montgomery County mask mandate is in place until May 28, 2021 and Whole Foods follows the local jurisdiction.  I calmly proved that he was wrong.  I also suggested that to get over the Covid nightmare we need to get busy getting over it.  

Even if Whole Foods instructs their mask police to stand down, it appears that many vaccinated, low risk folks will continue to mask in this area.  Somehow these folks cannot grasp that covid is on the way out and their risk is very low.  Sadly government at all levels and their media lapdogs have consistently doled out incomplete and misleading information.  Fear blossomed and thinking stopped.  The best remedy for these folks is to spend a week enjoying a maskless life and hopefully the spell will be broken.  

Update 2.1.22

We have since learned that being vaccinated does not stop the spread of Covid. If it did, Covid would be in the rear view mirror. We have also learned, although many of us were aware of this from the beginning, cloth and surgical masks offer very limited protection against the highly transmissible Omicron. A high risk person in close proximity to others should perhaps consider a well fitted N95 mask. While some debate the effectiveness of even the N95, if my life were on the line, an N95 would be on my face.