By Dennis Richardson, Magic Valley Publishing
On our recent vacation trip to Cancun we learned to not leave the room without a mask.
Everywhere we went, and I mean everywhere, people wore their masks…inside and out.
The only exceptions were when sitting down at the table at meal time or visiting the beach or pool.
Masks were mandatory to go through the buffet or to enter one of the four restaurants. There was an attendant at each waiting with hand sanitizer to squirt on palms before she would undo the rope entrance. Social distancing was enforced and only a few were allowed in at a time.
When we ventured out to the park down the street on foot one afternoon everyone we met on the sidewalks coming and going wore masks. So did we, even though we both had vaccine shots over a month ago and it was hot and difficult to breathe through the mask. It is just what people did. We respected it and joined in.
Masks were mandatory at the airports and on the airplanes going and coming. Actually I thought the flight attendants were a bit on the rude side on the way back, threatening to “throw us off the plane” if we were caught with our masks off except while eating the pretzel snacks or drinking the soft drinks they provided. I wanted to ask “how would that work? Are you just going to open the door and push us out or what?” An occasional smile would have helped but they looked dead serious.
I wonder how most folks feel about both the vaccines and wearing the mask. Personally, I no longer wear the mask when it is not required. Even though I got the vaccine when the opportunity arose I would still honor any mask mandates. I am OK with those who do not get a vaccine for whatever reason. After all, it is still somewhat of a mystery.
Most who come to church are mask free. I admire those that still wear one. For me it is either eye glasses or masks but not both. My mask makes my glasses fog up to the point that it is impossible to see.
From the amount of feedback I see, apparently both the mask and the vaccine are controversial subjects.
I just want things to get back to normal. After all, who wants a generation of people with bent ears?
We want to go back to Cancun, or somewhere similar, but it will be after travel is OK without masks and when that invasive COVID test is not required to get back into the good ole’ USA.
Dennis Richardson is the CEO of Magic Valley Publishing, Inc., which owns the Chester County Independent.
