I agree, a percentage of the population is " over" COVID and mask wearing.
Likely, COVID never ravaged their bodies, or left them with residual heart, lung, or other serious disorders which are an uphill battle every day.
I'm glad for them. There are likely people so untouched by COVID that if they were able to see a glimpse of someone they love struggling to breathe, they'd be absolutely stricken with horror and also remorseful for having been careless. I know that's true in my life.
I THOUGHT I'd be that safe person, too. Spent almost 35 years washing my hands correctly, wearing masks, observing aseptic protocols. ONE block of time, maybe 2 hours, spent talking with a husband dressed in many layers of winter clothing, just off a flight from Los Angeles, about some NONSENSE that mattered to him at the time likely changed all that for me. I ASKED him to change clothing and shower before he came near me before his plane landed. He chose to do things HIS way because he was one of those " COVID is like a cold except for the sissies or the already sick people". I asked him to just change and shower for me, even if he didn't believe in " this new virus" and he REFUSED.
He's spent a year now pretty much being my waiter, my restaurant takeout delivery person, my bedmaker, my laundry person, and a million other things I used to do but can't. Fetch it on the double. If he doesn't do it, it doesn't get done and I go without comfort, which is unacceptable to me considering his rudeness in wearing airplane clothing and NOT WASHING HIS HANDS all day long in the first place.
Let me be clear. I had already started self- isolating in early February. My last hair appointment was in January, so actually before February. ( I have the hair growth to prove it- I WILL NOT go for a vanity service during a period of active illness, like seasonal flu, even though I have had my yearly vaccines for many years. I am the epitome of the word " Cautious" because I've seen so many people struggle and die since I was a new RN at the age of 19 years old.
I ALREADY HAD close to 100 disposable masks here in my emergency medical kits but I didn't go out of my house, or have anyone come to my door the entire times he was traveling. I ate well enough from what was in my freezer and my energy bars. This is a very " privately" private community. We do not knock on neighbors' doors unless something's afoot, either positively or an alert. Live and let live and fences make good neighbors rule here. I didn't set it up but I learned it.
I had -0- exposure potential.
Except for him and his rudeness. The way I feel right now is that he can golly Pete take care of me the rest of my life, hating me if he wants, because he made me sick when I had a clear cut plan in place to prevent it and was following that plan perfectly.
AND if I do get significantly better, which doesn't seem likely, he will NEVER, EVER know for certain until my lawyers and I clean his clock and leave HIM broken in the dusty Texas road behind me.
THIS, truly is my philosophy as a Psychologist:
Someone who tries to disrespect or does disrupt significantly your MORTAL LIFE does not deserve one ounce of kindness or mercy NO MATTER YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THEM EVEN ONE MINUTE PRIOR. This pertains to handwashing, driving safely and soberly, masking by strangers, and respecting every person unless there's reason to avoid them, or call 911.
We Southern girls surely do know how to smile prettily through our tears and coughing so violently that's there's blood on our Kleenex, and eke out a tiny " Thank you" to make the guilty hurt just a little bit more.
Hair shirt justice is ALL I have, in addition to a heart full of something just this side of hatred for someone who was supposed to love and care for me as my life partner, my husband, and my friend and I, him, also.
Still and all, he's most likely hastened my aging and my death date, and there's NO coming back from those two things.