Be Kind

 

"In a places where there are no good people, be a good person."

When I saw this piece of calligraphy at a show I was doing, I told my spouse that could be my Christmas present.  When we got home, it was hung on the brick wall in the kitchen, and I remind myself frequently that it is better to be kind.

The past few years have tested that desire to be kind in the face of so much unkindness.  During an airborne pandemic, when people were asked to wear masks and refused because their inconvenience was more important than other people's lives made me very sad.  

It felt...unkind.

So I tried to use logic.  I tried to reason with people.  I tried to just make them see that covid wasn't a nothing burger for me and others.  But nope, nope, nope, some people simply would not be swayed.

And yes, I know that a mask isn't foolproof.  Neither is a vaccination.  What a vaccination does is try to mitigate the seriousness of the disease if you should catch it.  

But then we found out about Long Covid.  Surely the naysayers would see the wisdom of reducing the viral load in the air then?

Apparently not.

Now we are being hit with a heat wave which makes wearing a mask even more uncomfortable, so I get it.  I am not exactly comfortable in the heat with my mask on, either.  But just like I wear my seatbelt when I get in the car, I put my mask on before I exit the car.

Because less smoke, or a virus in my body, is A Good Thing.

All mitigations against covid are being dropped even though covid hasn't gone away.  I, and other immune compromised people, are still at risk because covid is still, even now, raging through our town.  But, because fewer people are dying, we are told to suck it up, stop living in fear, masks aren't covid proof, so why even bother wearing one?

Because LESS viral load in the air is better than letting it rip.

People tell me to stop wearing my mask because it won't stop covid.  No, but it will reduce my odds of getting it.  And I'll take a lower risk of being sick for the discomfort of wearing a mask over no protection at all.

Now we have wildfire smoke 'season', starting early, in the midst of a heat wave.  Temperatures in the high 20s, low 30s in May is simply unheard of, at least for days at a time.  The coming 10 days is going to be temperatures more typical of August.  I shudder to think what August will bring.

But this mindset of not doing small things to reduce risk because they won't solve the larger problem?  Of not bothering to do anything because one person cannot fix a global issue?  I understand.  But if enough individuals each did their part, some 'small' thing, AND advocated to their governments to do the big things?  Maybe, just maybe we would have a chance.  A chance to at least slow the steady march towards a future that is looking a whole lot like hell in the making.

This week of temps in the high 20s, low 30s, in MAY is what the scientists have been warning about for literally decades.

Yesterday I found a clip on You Tube of Midnight Oil's 1987 song Beds are Burning.  We knew then.  We knew in the 1960s.  We turned a blind eye and now?  Here we are.

So.  I will continue to wear a mask.  I will wear it for me, yes, but I will wear it so that I don't catch it and share it with others.  I will wear a mask against the smoke pall.  I will continue to compost, recycle, watch my gas usage.  And our next vehicle will, in all likelihood, be a hybrid.  

No, a hybrid is not the best answer.  But it WILL reduce how much gasoline we need to get around.  

Small acts.  They may not 'save the world' but less of a problem is better than more of that problem.