Wear A Mask

"If you are here. If you can read this. You will pass within 6 feet of someone on these narrow streets and sidewalks. Please protect us all. My mask protects you. Your mask protects me. Mask over nose and mouth. Enclose your nose. Keep your mask in place. Do not touch your face or the front of the mask. Please! Be respectful and patient with the people risking their lives to provide you with service."- Window Sign (Ellicott City)

I saw this makeshift sign in the window of a business in Ellicott City. It didn't make me angry. It didn't make feel like someone was trying to violate my civil liberties.

For me, this sign is a kindness, nothing more. It reminds me to do the right thing. (Sometimes I need those reminders. We all do.)

Thank you, concerned citizen for your time, effort, your heartfelt message, and commitment to humanity. Thank you for caring just a bit more, creating this sign to remind us all to take COVID-19 seriously.

Everyone has a role to play in stopping this pandemic. What will you do to improve the outcomes? Each of us must step up and do our part. We need to make, not so difficult choices, as individuals and as a community to save lives. If you don't, someone will do it for you. – paerki

I had written the following a few years ago.

Signs:

As I travel from neighborhood to neighborhood, there is always something that catches my eye, creating a reoccurring theme of focus and the thought of possibility. With this excursion I was drawn to signage, but not typical, traditional signs that are often manufactured professionally (billboard, restaurant, etc.).

I was more intrigued by makeshift messages left by people on walls, sidewalks, etc., who were in desperate need of being heard. Some were subtle, others in your face. As I pondered their implication I realized once more, how much we need to listen to each other, even when it’s not what we want to hear. Many of us want to know others feel the way we do, a commiserating of the masses – if you will.

For others, it’s about an emotional cleansing, releasing feelings into the world that would otherwise cause entrapment in the mind and create a false sense of security, which most often leads to contempt, anguish, and emotional distress. All too often these become barriers for people’s survival. I know this all too well because I’ve witnessed this firsthand with patients I’ve worked with over the years. However, there are select groups who see this as a validation of their existence – a purpose of life, educating others by any means possible, which can often be unsettling.

I sense there is something to be learned here. I think we can all be careless, going about our business without stopping to contemplate the many messages we see in life. I do think we take them all in – consciously or subconsciously, but sadly, we never process their full meaning.

I often believe these communications are metaphors for authenticating our beliefs, educating us about our mistakes and to not make the same one twice, sensing danger, etc. There is so much we miss along the way, and yet there are thousands of signs that we overlook at first only to see later, which leaves many of us saying, “What if?” Too many times it ends up proving our ignorance, arrogance, and denial.

It’s time we learn to be better processors of information. Yielding to signs that enhance the good, making it better, and for the bad, contemplating their true meaning because they could be an indication of what’s to come that could leave many confused and ultimately distraught, however, for others, saving a life – maybe yours, possibly mine. – paerki