The Masked Generation

"All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle." — St. Francis of Assisi ---

It’s official. We are going to be wearing masks for a very long time. We will be known in the future history books as the masked generation. I already have separated a drawer for masks. I have an assortment: the disposable ones, the solid color ones, the flower masks, the masks with messages, the ones with filters... and I dislike them all. The minute I get into the car, I take it off. As soon as I walk into the house, I hang it in the closet to air out or I throw it in the shower to wash it, depending on where I have been. 

I have tried to create a good relationship with the mask by trying to find some positive features. When I’m wearing a mask, I don’t have to worry about bad breath or make-up. It also protects me from bad odors. But that’s all I can think of. However, I can think of one hundred things against the mask. My phone doesn’t recognize me when I wear a mask so face recognition is pointless. I cannot wear lipstick because it gets all over the mask. My face gets all sweaty and sticky. And I could go on and on and on. But my favorite reason for hating my mask is that I feel that unless I wear sunscreen all the time in the upper part of my face, soon I will look like this:

But the bottom line is that when I wear the mask, I am not wearing it for my comfort, I am wearing it out of consideration for myself and for others. When I wear the mask, I am trying to be part of the solution. When I walk my dog out on the street and I run unto other people that are wearing their masks, I feel grateful and safe. But when I am in the elevator and someone walks in without a mask, I jump out and I tell them: “You should be wearing a mask.” This is not about being controlled by the government or by my management association. In a recent building board meeting, someone actually threatened to sue the association because they were infringing on his rights by making him wear a mask in the common areas. Seriously? It’s a good thing everyone told him that he was selfish and inconsiderate.

If we only learn one thing from this pandemic it should be that we are not in this world alone. We are all in this together. And it’s going to take the whole world to realize this so we can beat this virus. Maybe there is a reason why this virus has come to visit us. We had to stop spinning out of control and we had to realize that we are one world. We had to humble ourselves and realize that we need each other to win this battle. We have been living in this world without care, thinking that no matter what we did, the earth would be here forever. But maybe this virus came to purify our world and to open our eyes so that we could see that the earth is not going to last forever if we continue being so careless.

This virus may have also come to remind us that there is someone much more powerful that we have forgotten about. Yes, I am talking about God. Our world had to get very dark for us to get on our knees. It took a tiny virus to get us to pray for a cure. It reminded us that our world without God is very lonely and very scary. When we were quarantined, we realized that we did not need so many material things. We realized that all we needed was the one thing that had been taken away. And that was the company of others. When we were isolated, we missed our loved ones. If we had to choose between buying a new outfit or receiving the hug of a loved one, I am pretty sure we all would have asked for the hug. But it was in this isolation that we found our way back to God. It was in the darkness that we searched for His Light. Many that had not uttered a prayer in a very long time, found themselves praying for mercy and for a miracle.

Yes, we will go down in the history books as the masked generation, but I also hope that when we are able to remove our masks, we will be able to look at our brothers and sisters around the world without shame in our eyes that we did our part to make this whole world a much better place.

In the meantime, let’s all be uncomfortable together for a little while longer while uniting our hands in prayer: “Father, we are sorry for the selfish ways that we have treated Your World. We have forgotten that all our graces come from You. We apologize for turning our backs on You and forgetting that You are God. If You have sent us this virus to cleanse us and purify us so we can find our way back to You, please heal our souls and our hearts so that together we can send this virus away. Please, Lord, we ask You for forgiveness so that your Mercy can begin to cover our world. We know that only your Healing Presence will help us to beat this virus. We come to You today with humble hearts asking for your protection from this virus. And we ask for your guidance and wisdom so we can find a cure for this disease. But may Your Will be done, not ours. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.”