Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

All this mask wearing allows me to not recognize and not talk to people when I’d rather just keep doing things I’d rather just keep doing.

The year of the virus has brought us many changes. Let’s consider one that I discovered recently and like (on those occasions when I like it).

I find it difficult to recognize people when they are wearing a mask. Some people find it difficult to recognize me when I am wearing a mask. Since I live in one of the enlightened districts of America (that is both a compliment and a disparagement), everyone is still wearing masks here in mid-April 2021.

Situation: I am walking the sidewalk of a shopping center (you know the common type that is anchored by a grocery supermarket). I see someone I know. I recognize them despite the mask. By the glance of their eyes and the raising of their eyelids, I recognize that they recognize me.

I don’t want to stop and talk to them in this place at this time. Ah, here is the benefit of the mask. I just keep walking.

Sometimes we meet the next day in a situation where talking is either welcomed or unavoidable.

“Hey, were you at the shopping center yesterday?” the other person asks.

“Well, yes I was,” I answer.

“I thought I saw you, but you kept on walking so I thought it wasn’t you,” they say.

“Oh,” I reply. “I didn’t notice.”

“Yes,” they say, “with these masks sometimes we just don’t recognize people we know.”

“I know what you mean,” I say.

See? The masks give us anonymity at times when we just want to keep doing what we want to keep doing. Perhaps this is selfish. Perhaps this is finding some good in an otherwise bad situation—and I believe this pandemic year is a bad situation. I find that all the mask wearing is bringing more harm than good, but that is just me. I find it a good excuse to not recognize, stop, and talk to some persons in some situations at some times.