‘Today I wore a mask to Target with lipstick underneath. It’s automatic, and I keep forgetting about the mask.’: Woman says she is wearing a mask to protect others, ‘It is not living in fear, it is siding with science’

“Today I wore a mask to Target.

I was hot.

I was uncomfortable.

My glasses were foggy.

No one could see my really cute lipstick I just applied before I put my mask on because I still have standards to uphold people. Also, the lipstick thing is automatic, and I keep forgetting about the mask.

I smiled with my eyes at my fellow mask wearers to encourage us all in our mission of love. Friends, masks are not a symbol of fear. They are a symbol of love. We know wearing a mask protects us some, but even more so it protects those around us.

If there’s a chance we could be sick and not know it, even a small chance, we care for those around us by wearing this bit of fabric around our faces.

We accept being uncomfortable and living differently and taking this extra step as a way of serving those around us as a way of acknowledging we are all connected and what I do might, in fact, affect others.

‘You do you’ is really no way to plow through a pandemic. We need each other like it or not. So, we wear a mask as a way of saying we are all in this together and even if I am just fine, I still care about what happens to you. As a way of trying to get back to living in community together outside the walls of our homes.

It’s such a simple thing to do really…this mask wearing.

It is not living in fear.

It is siding with science.

It has nothing to do with politics…I couldn’t care less about your politics as I keep my breath off you in public.

Today I wore my mask for you. And for your child with asthma. And for your daughter who is pregnant. And for your mom who just got done fighting cancer. And for your perfectly healthy coworker who could still get it. And for your husband who is working as a nurse to take care of those fighting the virus. And for your cousin who just really needs to open up their restaurant again. And even for your Uncle Bill who is in his 80’s and doesn’t believe the virus exists.

Mask wearing is about living in love and in service to our fellow humans…all of them. If there is a chance that what I did today kept someone safe I will sleep better. And who doesn’t want to sleep better?

So for the time being, let’s all keep our breath to ourselves tucked behind a jaunty piece of fabric (I’m eyeing up one with a Golden Girls pattern) as a way of saying, ‘Hey, I might not know you or ever see you again or even agree with you about anything, yet I care.

Mask wearing for the win.”

This story was submitted to Love What Matters by Hiding in the Closet with Coffee by Amy Betters-Midtvedt. Follow Amy on Instagram here. Do you have a similar experience? We’d like to hear your important journey. Submit your own story here. Be sure to subscribe to our free email newsletter for our best stories, and YouTube for our best videos.

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