Living with people who are afraid of getting the flu in September 2021


It's September of 2021, and as promised, I'm reporting in real time about what's happening right now, which I'm sure that future historians will ponder. This is the COVID-19 Pandemic, or, for a lot of people, an elaborate hoax. And things took an interesting turn for me this morning. I'll see if I can explain.

As usual, I went for my ride on my recumbent trike. I don't really go anywhere, I just noodle around, stopping for coffee. When I see people that I know I wave, and sometimes I'll stop and talk to them. Today I talked to a woman from the 55+ trailer park (oops, I mean mobile home community) who surprised me by wearing a mask.

Just to be absolutely clear here, I do believe that COVID-19 is real, and that people have been getting terribly sick, and dying from it. Of course, I live in Arizona, among a LOT of people who disagree, and see it as an elaborate hoax. I call these people "Deniers" or "Divines" - which means that they deny that it exists at all, or that they are protected divinely. And I'm OK with those people, I've known them all of my life. They're the ones who would grab me by the lapels and start talking about fitness, or computers, and I would realize right away that they're so far away from understanding that there's no reason for me to engage them, I simply smile and move on.

This woman, who is as kind and gentle as you can image, has always been a denier. I would see her with her group of friends from the park, and when she could get a word in edgewise (I talk a lot!), she would point out that COVID-19 is all a bunch of nonsense. Where she got her information I really don't know, but it's the same thing that I see on social media, it almost sounds like people are memorizing scripts. And maybe they are!

But I support people in whatever they believe, as long as they aren't harming anyone, and this woman always wore a mask when she went into the McDonalds. Otherwise, when she would hang around with her "cronies", she didn't, which just makes sense. McDonalds has rules like "no shirt, no shoes, no service" and nowadays that includes wearing a mask, at least here in the Phoenix, Arizona area.

But out on the sidewalk, it surprised me to see her put on a mask as I approached. And then she said, "Now I remember, you're vaccinated, right?", which is correct. But my question to her, without wanting to sound confrontational, was why she would want to wear a mask at all? The answer was a simple one - she was afraid of getting the flu, and masks help.

These are interesting times!
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