I find the following image to be incredibly troublesome.[1]
It seems to indicate two very conflicting notions. On the one hand, wearing a mask is a lovely way to take care of oneself and others during an airborne pandemic. On the other hand, it has been discarded, like so many other masks that I see on roads, walkways, or parking lots. In one image it symbolizes care for oneself and others but also disregard for the earth. Of course it is possible that this mask was originally disposed of correctly and blew away in the transfer of from the trash bin to the garbage truck. But, is it probable that so many masks end up discarded incidentally like that? Rather than look for excuses, I want to let the irony of this mask tell me something about how we roll as humans. It ain’t pretty.
I can imagine someone discarding this mask saying, “I only got the stupid mask because the stupid store requires it and all I wanted to do is to go get some stupid milk.” I don’t typically overuse the word “stupid” but it does seem to capture the kind of snarly, “this is ridiculous” attitude that some folks feel possessed to yell. I don’t know what to say to such folks. I think everything changes when you have a friend on a ventilator or lose a loved on to this virus. And I cannot imagine why it would take that much personal tragedy to be sympathetic toward all the tragic stories that the numbers of infections, hospitalizations, and deaths represent. But, I suspect that the folks most vociferously doubting the pandemic are also folks who doubt the reality of climate change. I’ll circle back to that in a moment.
It is my guess that most people discard masks without an attitude of doubt or anger about the virus. I’m guessing that they are folks doing their best with this virus, trying to be safe while maintaining their sanity and going about their business. And yet – intended or not – masks continue to end up along the road or in the oceans, where they will remain for a very long time. And that is a real concern, not just for the sake of aesthetics, but for the state of the earth itself. If you want to read some troubling news, just put “masks and oceans” in your search browser.
I read many years ago that people tend to choose the ‘urgent’ over the ‘important.’ If that is a true observation, it’s not that people no longer care about the environment, it’s just that we have put it on the backburner, focusing our attention, energy, and passion on the virus. That’s what I see whenever I spot a discarded mask on the side of the road. Someone has forgotten, minimized, or even decided that the catastrophe on hand is more important than the looming catastrophe that is “out there.”
And that is a crying shame. We can do better.
Mark of St. Mark
[1] An actual local photo, thanks to Bart McHenry, in response to my “St. Mark Minuscule Morning Moment” on Thursday.
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