Contributing to the chaos while Living – Life – Large

By Dan Abernathy
Posted 12/28/20

Face masks become the new cigarette butt.

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Contributing to the chaos while Living – Life – Large

Posted

We are all aware of the statewide mask
order issued by Gov. Mark Gordon that went
into effect on December 9, 2020. I have to say
this whole issue floods my mind with thought
and leaves me scratching my balding head a
bit.
To wear or not to wear a facemask has
moved towards the top of social debates.
Wyomingites like to consider themselves a
free group of individuals. We are here because
we do not like to be herded with rules and
regulations, even when they are possibly
implemented for the good of all.
Even with this mandate trickling down
from the highest order, they are not really
pushing or corralling our freedom. Wearing
a face covering is still a personal choice. The
choice, however, has repercussions.
First of all they are not even telling you to
wear a surgical mask. The mandate refers to
the order as a face covering. This allows you
to be considered complying with just about
anything pulled across you nose and mouth.
As long as you have something on, you are
complying.
If you have any medical condition, a
mental health condition or disability, a person
is not required to wear a face covering. This
person is also not required to provide any
documentation or explanation demonstrating
that they cannot wear a face covering. It is
even unlawful to be asked.
This mandate is just another rule that
is being implemented as a feel-good factor
with no intent to be monitored or enforced.
Enforcement is instigated from society and
being manipulated and shamed from your
peers.
Walking into the local grocery store or
post office you are walking into an arena
circled by spectators executing judgment
and comparisons. If you are wearing a face
covering of any type, you are complying and
perhaps deemed weak, a left sided liberal that
is comfortable with being lead.
If you are not wearing a face covering
you are a holdout, an uncaring right winged

freedom fighter. An individual that will not
be shamed or told what to do by a whim or
anyone that is not true to their way of thought.
Each way you are being judged by the values
of others.
As for myself I have not just sit in isolation
and thought of these scenarios. I have been
out on the battlefield doing covert recons.
Wearing a face covering, I carefully walk
around looking into the eyes of the masked.
Though they are feeling comfortable with a
false sense of anonymity, you can see from
their covered look you have been approved
and accepted among the safe ones. At the same
time you’re looked at as a defector from the
ones not covered.
If you walk, throw caution to the wind and
leave the face covering in your pocket, as I
did while infiltrating the revolutionaries, you
are quickly looked at, condemned and called
a uncaring bully and are probably walking
down the aisle the wrong way. At the same
time looked at as you’re a renegade from the
ones covered.
Even though Sheila Bush, executive
director of the Wyoming Medical Society,
said, "Everyone wearing a mask is the simplest
and most effective way to reduce the state’s
rate of transmission.” You are being judged,
condemned or condoned by your peers and
society.
What I see in this masked division is
another Litmus test. A Litmus test is a simple
conclusion deriving from a single factor, such
as an attitude, event or fact that becomes
decisive.
The shopping cart is the ultimate Litmus
test. To return the shopping cart is the right
thing to do when you are done using one.
This is something you are able to do. It is also
not illegal to not return one. A shopping cart
presents you with an apex of whether you
should do the right thing or not. You will not
be punished for not returning it. Returning the
shopping cart is just something you do because
it is the right thing to do. In conclusion, the
result of this test determines if you are a good
or bad member of society.
Now introduce this pattern of thought and
logic with face coverings.
Facemasks are being introduced in
so many ways, styles and fashions that it
boggles the mind. From disposable, use one
time and toss, to designer styles that include
art, advertising and power statements. Face
coverings are becoming the new baseball cap.
Which in itself introduces another issue and
moral dilemma. Should people, businesses
and organizations be profiting from the sale
of face coverings during a global pandemic?
A commercial and monetary venue where are
leaders are mandating that we wear.
This also puts us into another realm of trouble
from the cluttered mind. Disposable facemasks
are starting to blow around with the leaves and
getting stuck in fences and sagebrush. Facemasks
are quickly becoming the new discarded cigarette
butt. I have lost count of the number of facemasks
I see on the ground, left on a chair, at a table or
in a parking lot.
Our self-proclaimed experts are saying it
has become a new major environmental crisis.
They are boldly expressing that hundreds of
thousands are lost and thrown away everyday.
Perhaps mandated face coverings should be
biodegradable?
With all this being said, the derivative of
my conclusion is that wearing a face covering
is not really that big of a deal. If you are
protecting someone or by chance slowing
things down you are doing a good thing. I
don’t think we should place a right or wrong
on this issue.
There is not a forcible law that says
you have to wear one. You are not going
to be ticketed or thrown in jail. You are just
replacing the shopping cart. In doing this you
are removing a slight sliver of fear from the
masses of society that are so quick to follow
the flow of panic and feel afraid. - dbA
You can find more, free-spirited and
unfiltered insight of Dan Abernathy at
www.contributechaos.com.