September 4th, 2020: Casualties

September 4th, 2020: Casualties

    I lost some dear friends to the covid-19 virus this week. Oh, no one died, but for reasons mentioned below, they will no longer be with us at our gatherings.

    My friends felt uncomfortable with the number of folks around who did not or would not wear face coverings when we got together in large groups. I know that no one is being malicious about not wearing masks, but nonetheless, there are people out there in the world who are immensely protective of their health under normal circumstances, and with this virus going around, they are even more cautious.

    What do I think of the mask mandate? On the grand scheme of things, it doesn't really matter, but just for the record, I'm not sure that they do much good, and in some cases, may even be unhealthy rather than healthy.

    Some people resist wearing the masks because they claim it is a scheme by the government to control people. I kind of doubt that is the case, because there is some good documentation that shows that wearing a mask does prevent the spread of communicable diseases, and covid-19 is seriously contagious. I think that if someone is wearing the proper kind of mask, they can protect others and themselves for a period of time. I even saw an experiment where they coughed into petri dishes while not wearing a mask, then while wearing a cloth mask, and finally while wearing a N95 mask such as the kind that health care workers wear. Predictably, the dish of no mask was filled with bacteria, but the dish with a cloth mask showed some bacteria as well, though not as much. The dish from the N95 mask showed no bacteria at all. Granted, if this were a government conspiracy, the test could have been faked to serve as convincing propaganda, but I do not think so. My conclusion is that all the masks circulating out there are not the same. Some home-made cloth masks may not be protecting us at all, while others might work well. I do not recommend wearing the N95 masks; leave them for the very vital health care workers.

    Some people, in their determination to NOT wear a mask latch on to the myriad theories floating around out there that claim to prove how bad wearing a mask is for one's health. There is the claim that putting a face covering over your mouth and nose decreases your oxygen level to 65% or some other unsurvivable level. I have never believed that, but wanted to prove it for myself, so when I found out that I could purchase a pulse oximeter, I did. When I got it home, I read the directions carefully (clip to finger, push button) and checked my oxygen reading. Mine seems to hover around 97% just about all the time. After I had it on for a few minutes, I slipped my face mask on to see what happened. My reading immediately dropped to 94%, but within thirty seconds, rose back up to 97% and stayed there. The mask did not have any effect at all.

    Others refuse to wear masks because, well, "I'm a man, not a sheep, and ain't nobody gone tell ME what to do!" You guys need to just tamp it down, because you're not proving your manhood, your proving your level of stubbornness. A person who wears a mask is not doing so because they are weak and yielded to the dictates of an oppressive government. They are protecting themselves and their family from a very vicious disease that has already killed a lot of people. It is a real threat, and deserves to be treated as such.

    Some folks seem to think that if a person wears a mask, they lack faith in God to protect them. When Jesus rose from the dead, He met some members of His group of followers and revealed who He was to them. Those people ran back and told the rest what they had seen, but the apostles did not believe them. It is said that when Jesus finally caught up with them He rebuked them for their unbelief. My point is that, having seen the death and burial of Christ, they simply could not accept the idea that He was alive once again. These were men who had walked side by side with Christ every day and saw the wonders and miracles and heard the amazing sermons that He preached, which were unlike anything they had ever heard before. But they STILL doubted the veracity of a risen Christ.

    People are scared, and justifiably so. I think that a large majority of us know someone who has died from the covid virus, making it deeply personal to us. We see what is going on around us and tell ourselves, "There, but for the Grace of God..." We stay home, we wear masks, we keep our distance from others near us, and monitor our health day by day. Something that we would have dismissed a year ago as a simple sniffle causes us to start thinking about who we've come in contact with that might have had the virus. Irrational? Maybe, but just as real to us as can be.

    We all cry out to God to protect us and our loved ones from this horrible epidemic, but we also know that the Lord causes the rain to fall upon the wicked and the good. If someone dies of the virus, does that mean that their faith was weak? This puts us back to a time when people believed that if you got sick, you must have done something bad in your life, and God was then punishing you. We have evolved beyond that manner of thinking.

    I think that we should show compassion for those who have the virus as well as those who fear the virus. To me, this is the most Christ-like thing that I can do with my life. You'll see me out there wearing a mask, even though I don't really believe it is protecting me as much as the experts want us to believe. Why do I do that? Because I love my friends and family, and they are concerned. I respect their concern and comply, not just because I can't go into my favorite restaurant without a mask, but because I look at those who pass by me and see the fear in their eyes. If this small act of putting a piece of cloth over my face brings them some sense of comfort, I will do it.

    When I go up on the stage to lead the church in song, I remove my mask. I am far enough away from everyone that I will not spread any illness I might have to you, but when I go sit down in the congregation, you will see me cover my face. It's just one more way I can let everyone know that I truly care about your well-being.

    Disclaimer: This is not intended to be an indictment of anyone or any group of people. It is simply my opinion, and nothing more.