Posted on April 3, 2020 at 7:45 AM by Jason Macoviak
I went out with my bandana mask on today
(I needed to get some cash from the bank.)
Nobody stared at me – perhaps we’re learning to adapt I thought
I sat on the bench by the post office, waiting for it to open
I had a package to mail to my granddaughter
People made a point of barely glancing at my blue bandana
I sent them smiles, unseen
When I came home, I went to the computer
as a matter of course
My Japanese friend in Los Angeles had sent me an email
She said she had to wear a bandana all the time now
As people were harassing her for being Asian
It’s always like that isn’t it? Lines are drawn. Sides are taken
Me and You… Us and Them
A demented concept at best…
At worst, it brings out the grossest impulses of humanity
greed, suspicion, blame, avarice, vengeance
In spite of love and compassion there continues to be hate
and violence… fear
I would like to believe that great pandemics could serve us
to reach for higher ground; common ground
it touches all of us in a universal way, in a human way
…tragically, and what human does not know something of this?
It is that hard ground that builds bridges and highways to one another.
Haven’t we all at some time or other walked those worn paths?
Don’t we all know something of the world and its history?
- it’s bloody wars, the tragic millions starved, imprisoned
murdered? And it could have been us!
It could be us! Why don’t we remember?
Yesterday on the Facebook posts there was a young woman
speaking to the camera through her bandana
admonishing us with scientific updates on the importance
of covering our faces now, sharing with us the latest data
IT IS IMPORTANT she said, and again, in the end, she said again,
“Remember:… I protect you! And you protect me!