Halloween is Over People... Come Out from behind Your Masks!

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*Originally released last May, however, with Halloween in our near rear-view mirror, and the hope ahead of a Holiday full of Smiling faces... smiling faces we can actually SEE smiling at us, because the masks will become a thing of the past, I thought I'd Re-Release this Mask-less Beast...

OK Y'all,  todays May 15th, for a point of reference inside our Pandemic, Pandemonium Timeline...
Went Grocery shopping this morning...

First person, only Person that I saw, but the first person I know that was NOT wearing a mask today... I had it hangin around my neck, on its bungee leash.
The same bungee leash that I wear, 7 days a week, for over a damn year now, easily visible, everybody could see it, though that's not the why behind the leash, its more about convenience and compliance and respect,  and that I'd rather never rely on my memory to not forget it, forget the mask, so, always around my neck. Hanging in front, it looks like a black little baby bib to catch my crumbs, but whip it around to the back and I'm a super villain with the worlds teensiest black cape...
The Wife is Sooooo Over my Mask on a Leash!
But that wasnt what it was about.

Everybody else, EVERYBODY Else, EVERYBODY ELSE in that grocery store was wearing a mask. Why's that news?
Well the CDC (Center for Disease Control... or maybe it's the Covid Dis-Information Community... can't keep it straight), so, the CDC just said, you don't have to... don't have to, wear a Mask, that is.
But...
Masks on everyone. Most of them, full- facial. Some of them, a few, with, ya know, their nose... exposed... that type of thing...hmmm.
But it wasn't that I was being a rebel, but it was that I was Actually paying attention, to the sound, and the science, and the signs... the rules...
See, as I walked into the store, there was a sign out front that said "Masks, recommended, for everyone's safety."
Recommended...?!?
Well I've been double Vaxxed,.
Whether people like it or not, it's their choice to, or not, thats not what this is about...
Favorite quote I heard...
You're Vaxxed...Great.
You're NOT Vaxxed... your choice.
But since nuthin' is guaranteed 100% bullet proof, just don't give your 'chit to me!
See, that perspective, Tha'ts not even a debate, because its a choice, and choice, that does not impact anyone else, is not a debate.
But... I was the only person, until, the very very end of this experience, the end of this grocery store story. ..

And the whole hour, I felt less like a Leader, and just more like I was no longer part of some "Club".

I'll admit, I was putting the mask on as I was walking into the Store, when what to my wondering eyes did appear, but a sign at the front that was Different than it had been all last year...

Big Sandwich board sign, Black with Chalk writing, that said...
"Masks Recommended for Everyone's  Safety."

I had to pause, skip a beat and almost stumbled a step...
Recommended?

It had for what seemed like forever said Required. ...
But no more, now, per public guidelines, this store, by the way, they brag about being employee owned, this store changed to follow guidelines that said Recommended.

As I approached the sliding doors, where the carts were behind, my pulse quickened, my eyes darted around, and I had my mask tween my fingers, prepared to put it on, and...
I let myself walk in...
All 100% Nekkid Faced..
Nude from Nose to Neck...
For a moment,
It felt somewhere between pornographic and powerful, and then I remembered what it was...
Normal,... Human, ...Free Will... again, after all this time.

I shopped a little, smiling the whole time, and Im the kind who looks everyone in the eye, smiles to their face, polite in my passes by... but No One, and I mean NO One, looked me in the eye, the whole 30+ minutes I made my way from The Frozen Chicken breasts to the check out line.

Was I invisible, without my mask...
Or just not worthy to look at because I was no longer part of the club.

Earlier, I mentioned that I was the only person, until, the very very end of this experience, the end of this grocery store story. .. well, it was interesting, because as Im walking out, pushing my cart-full of paid for perisables, and sacked up snacks, there was a gentleman that had just walked in, and grabbed an empty cart, I walked past him with my cart, we were about the same age, though he had a whole lot more hair than I did,...
Now we passed each other just feet, literally just feet, beyond that sign I earlier referenced, saying "Masks recommended for everyone's safety"...
And he looked at me, only person I can remember over the last half hour, except for the cashier...
Only person to look me square in the eye...
And he pulled his mask down.
Elastic Still around his ears, but now under his chin and jaw. I didnt say anything, didn't even hang around long enough to see if he chuckled or smiled.
I just went on about my business.
My business of respect. .. respecting the expressed wishes of that privately owned business.
See, if that sign had said "Masks REQUIRED For everyones safety", like it had for the last year, I'd have masked up quicker than Ironman.
But it said recommended... it left the choice, the responsibility, the freedom, up to each individual.
I respect that business.
I respect every person in that stores right and freedom to choose.
And I respect that man I saw on my way out, who showed up looking like everyone else... but showed the world its alright not to.

Interesting side note, whole time I was in there, walking around with the name of my business embroidered and emblazened on the back of my jacket, I was anticipating the chance I might be confronted, and that now after the fact, I might be cancelled.
Cancel culture takes a pic of me in the store, posts it like a "One of these things doesn't match" kinda pic...
Like someone was ready to "brand me a Conservative" (heaven forbid) as part of their Cancel-Culture-Club... yeah, like that spin on the Boy George Band...
The Cancel Culture Club...
Never happened though...
And ya know what was on my satellite radio, in the car, the moment I sat inside, cranked the keys and the radio screen came on, telling me the Artist and song title...
Culture Club, and "The Church Of The Poisoned Mind."
True story...
The church of the Poisoned mind...
Walking out of that Mask Covered Grocery store, I felt I'd just left, the church of a poisoned mind...
Come on folks, the sign said,  ya dont need to have that membership card to get inside...
HUH!!!

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