On learning a (painful) lesson.

Many of us here are in the camp of unmasked, unvaxxed, unmuzzled, unafraid and unrelenting warriors of truth and justice.

For a brief moment in our city we were allowed to go indoors without masks if 'pricked'.. I suspect I wasn't the only one who took advantage of this mandate and removed indoor masking without being 'pricked.'

That changed quickly and we are now mandated yet again to wear the bloody masks indoors. Defiant, yours truly often sports the mask under the chin and to date no one said anything..

Yesterday I shopped at a supermarket...when I went to pay a terrified Asian cashier asked me to mask up. I resisted saying i had breathing issues...she looked very afraid and in a broken English implored me to mask up...It didn't take a genius to realize she was afraid of being admonished by her boss jeopardizing her job...The look of 'terror' in her eyes moved me poignantly...Instantly I realized these bloody mandates are not made by these fellow humans who are trying to make a living and are terrified of 'non compliance'...

I felt so insensitive to act so righteously in the face of so many who remain, through no fault of their own often, in 'blissful ignorance' following orders and mandates and everything else in between...I was humbled to realize that my action fueled fear in an innocent fellow human who starts working at 5am and I hazard to guess is paid minimum wage...

I so regret my insensitivity and will make sure to mask up next time I visit the cashier to pay for my groceries..what a small gesture to refrain from adding to the confusion, fear and anxiety of so many of our fellow humanity (globally)....

Maybe sharing this lapse will lighten my shame for what happened yesterday...