It’s a heated issue: why or why not to wear a mask in the age of Covid-19.
But before I get into the mask debate, I’m hoping you will consider the interconnectedness of being, and to do that, I need to first talk about poop (which seems to be a recurrent theme in my recent blog posts).
We live in rural New Jersey without access to a centralized municipal sewer treatment system. Instead, we have a septic system in the middle of our front yard, which is an underground wastewater treatment structure. The filter clogged earlier this year, and we ended up with a disgusting overflow of fecal sludge in the yard. The septic guy dug up the grass, pried open the lid of the septic tank, and pressure cleaned the filter. It was gross. Even the deer avoided the 10-foot area where the flood of toilet waste was. I thought the grass would die. But then, the grass soon grew back greener and lusher than any other grass in the yard. It turns out that our fecal sludge was life-giving fertilizer to the lawn.
In turn, that grass, like all plants, bestows life-giving gifts to humans too.
The plant/people relationship is a miraculous exchange. You exhale the waste gas of carbon dioxide which plants then absorb through their leaves, and then via photosynthesis (how they feed themselves), they release oxygen into the air. The cycle continues when you breathe in that O2 elixir of life. You can’t survive without plants, and plants can’t survive without you.
Our interconnectedness doesn’t stop with floras. Look deeply into any animal’s eyes, and you will feel that indescribable energy of interspecies bonding. Pet a dog or cat, and experience an explosion of the happy hormone oxytocin. And if the emotional connection weren’t enough of an example, some farm and game animals even provide a source of protein for you meat eaters in the bunch.
There is also human interconnectedness. Humans simply can’t survive without one another. At the most basic level, we wouldn’t exist without a sperm and an egg from two different people coming together in a glorious symphony of fertilization. We are also linked energetically, which is how you can sense a person coming into a room, even if your back is to the door. Look into someone’s eyes, even if they are wearing a mask, and you will pick up their mood. If that mood is bad, you may become cranky and possibly spread that emotion to the next person you interact with. Conversely, good moods are also contagious, so go forth with loving, happy energy! It’s the same energetic connection that brings about an automatic grin when a baby smiles at you, or that caused millions to spontaneously laugh when they watched the viral video of the Chewbacca Mask Lady’s infectious belly laugh (I double dog dare you to watch it again without laughing). There are endless other examples of how humans are interconnected, ranging from farmers growing food that eventually ends up on your plate, to the teams of people building automobiles for you to drive, and of course doctors and nurses working tirelessly to treat you if you are sick.
The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic also demonstrates the interconnection of people. When someone infected talks, coughs, sneezes, or even just exhales, microscopic coronavirus aerosols are expelled and linger in the air, just waiting for another human to inhale those tiny aerosols and become a new host for the virus. When you remove the horrific aspects of this pandemic, the warp speed with which this virus passed from human to human to reach every corner of the globe is a pretty fascinating example of how we are all interconnected.
So this brings us to the great mask debate—to wear or not to wear?
On the pro-mask side, many have argued that the requirements of wearing a seatbelt or motorcycle helmet save lives, and because people don’t resist those laws, they shouldn’t resist wearing a mask because that saves lives too.
Take a look at the low Covid rates in Taiwan. It has long been a practice for Asians to wear a mask when they are sick to protect others. So when a very contagious virus hits, like SARS and now the novel coronavirus, it is widely accepted that you wear a mask to protect others from you. This is especially important when the disease is something like Covid-19 where there are many asymptomatic carriers. Asians wear masks first and foremost to be considerate of others in case they themselves are ill. They believe it their civic duty to wear a mask when there is a chance they are contagious. It’s considered selfish not to wear one during this pandemic, because you may infect someone else, and yes, they may die.
On the anti-mask side, people ranging from some religious leaders, light workers and healers, to politicians and everyday citizens make arguments about why masks aren’t necessary. These arguments range from a denial of individual freedoms to a denial of the science of how this virus spreads. Both of these arguments stem from ego that says, “I am a free spirit and I am separate from you.” Some argue that by not wearing a mask we’ll reach herd immunity sooner. But dig into the science and you’ll see we are nowhere close to reaching herd immunity. Ask anyone who has lost a loved one to Covid-19, and the possible sacrifices to reach that point are simply not worth it.
Anti-maskers feel masks represent their independence, individuality, and freedom, concepts that emphasize otherness and separation—a denial of interconnectedness. Yet in reality, our individuality is only part of our being, the other part of which is togetherness and essential interconnectedness with our fellow humans, as well as a communal wholeness that exists throughout the entire physical Universe.
Take a cue from the horse statue I regularly drive past in Frenchtown, NJ, and recognize that the battle with coronavirus is “WE not Me.”Honor the fact that we are in this fight together—that we are interconnected—and wear your damn mask.
This is not a political issue. If the president of the United States was infected, despite being in the most protected bubble in the world because everyone who comes into contact with him is tested, then you could get sick too.
We can stop the spread, but we need to do it together because there is no other way. So follow science and wear your mask, socially distance, wash your hands, and for God’s sake, stop touching your face!
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