Covid-19: Mask up

Like most old codgers, I'm a bit reluctant to embrace change of any kind.
Call me what you like: individual, contrarian, stupid.
But this is a trend I had to follow because I know, like it or not, if I don't, it could kill me or somebody else. I do it for the same reason I put on a seat belt, or don't get in the car after a night of drinking.
Because I am part of a society that values the taking on of personal responsibility.
I am a Canadian who pays taxes to make sure no one goes bankrupt because of illness. I believe in the public good, in the social safety net, and giving a hand others.
I am a mother, a grandmother, a wife, and a friend.
Just an ordinary Canadian.
I don't carry a gun, but I'm happy to carry a mask.
In 2009, I got really sick with a coronavirus called SARS when I was working at an Ottawa hospital.
I've never been that sick in my life.
I didn't wear a mask, or gloves, or even use hand sanitizer.
And I got terribly sick.
The disease led me to quit my job because my boss wouldn't let me tell anyone how sick I was. I didn't have a family doctor back then. I was just trying to put food on at the table and couldn't afford to lose this job, until I had to quit it.
It took months for me to recover. Months.
In the meantime, I lived in a personal hell that was exhausting, nightmare-inducing, and painful.
It took a toll on my lungs which have since recovered though it gave me scar tissue in my throat because of all the coughing. Literally, I was coughing up a lung.
I survived, and learned my lesson. But I am terrified that this time would be different. This terrible novel version of the disease uses nasal sap to poison children, turn lungs into bricks, and lay waste to our elderly and compromised population.
It is the murder hornet of illnesses taking out whole nursing homes, and church congregations, and entire families.
And it's coming to a place near you and me.
Wait, it's already here.
Social distancing is working, but clearly it's not enough, because some people are idiots, like the people in the apartment complex kitty corner to where I live, where every night is a party, every joint is bogarted, and spittle spills off some balconies like waterfalls.
I won't go to the Quickie across the street because they go there.
But I can't escape them.
They go to the Loblaws, the Home Hardware, the pet store, the Beer Store, the pharmacy, the Pizza Pizza and the bank.
I know because I see them, congregating in public places, and going into the public bathrooms for a piss.
One guy barfed in the liquor store.
All over a couple of clerks.
We live in a great country, in a wonderful society, but some people are just assholes who will spoil it for the rest of us. I know it. I see it.
It just takes one.
It takes just one MoFo -- probably the guy I saw walking down my street, hacking and wiping his snot on his sleeve like a three-year-old.
I saw him hug three people.
So yeah, I wear a mask.
In spite of my anxiety about covering my mouth.
In spite of my personal vanity.
I wear a mask. You want to fight me, you stupid, supercilious punk?
I have the cops on speed dial, Mother Fucker.
Come at me.
Try it.
I am a Mother Bear. Unafraid. Unapologetic.
I'm doing it for my kids, and grandkids, for my husband who goes to work everyday, and just learned that one of the maintenance guys tested positive.
From just one visit to an infected bathroom.
I wear a mask for you.
I hope you do it for me.
Don't be selfish.
Really.
Mask up.