Reluctant to Mask the Image of God
When stay-at-home orders were initially mandated, masks were still being widely considered as ineffective (or even problematic) for the public from the medical community. I honestly felt that masks were a benign solution that might help curb the spread of coronavirus. However, since the mandate to wear masks was implemented, my consternation for the abrupt sociological and psychological side effects of face covering increases. We are being prescribed an Orwellian swath of a remedy, in hopes that it curbs COVID19, without understanding the long-term implications of this prescription. Masks mandates are incrementally and drastically erasing crucial components of robust culture.
I write this post because I have seen a concerning amount of propaganda to wear a mask and slander against individuals who chose not to wear a mask. Signs on the highway say, "Love one another. Wear a mask." Campaign adds tell older ladies they are doing "the work of God" by getting people to wear a mask. I have read mainstream articles incriminating non-mask wearers as hostile and insane. Ads reel on my computer for "Why I wear a mask" but I have seen no ads address my particular concerns for why I hesitate to wear a mask. So here it goes... why I am reluctant to don a mask:
1. We bear the image of God. God created everything out of nothing, but in the sacred love of a Father, He made man and woman in His glorious image. Every single human is beautiful, and the summit of creation. To cover our countenance is to portray His image as filthy and shameful. It is though we are diapering God's image. Perhaps, masks are the best way to portray the drama of humans' sins to defile God's image, but when man sinned, God designed clothing to cover the body and not the face. If we are not able to see each others' faces, are we able to appreciate the significance that the other person is reflecting?
2. Wearing masks is a medical intervention that has unknown social and emotional side-effects when implemented . I have heard people say that in Asia, people have been wearing masks for a long time. It is true that Asians have been utilizing masks in much greater numbers than Westerners, but at least in Laos, masks are generally used to protect against the elements of dust and pollution but are doffed before engaging another person in conversation. I say this because people will tell me that Asians have been using masks for years so it is safe and that does not accurately reflect how society has been utilizing masks. We do not know and understand the long term effects that covering our countenances during human interaction have on other human beings.
Consider this, there are infants in daycare who spend the majority of their alert hours engaging with someone whose face is half-covered. An infant is learning to interpret the 21 different emotions that facial expressions convey, and themselves connect and are experimenting with their own 43 facial muscles. The brain is changing and developing in a rapid way, and the window for this development is narrow. How can a child receive the emotional feedback they need for typical development if their primary caregiver is wearing a face mask? Are we likely to see increased incidence of developmental disability and hindered emotional intelligence?
3. Wearing masks do communicate and promote isolation, and we were never designed to live isolated.
During the first two weeks of the mandate to wear a face mask, I was completely compliant. During that time, I had an extremely difficult time hearing other people who were talking to me with a face mask, and often, other people could not hear me. This provides further impetus for the rocky fragmentation that society is experiencing.
Before I lived in Laos, I lived in India. I befriended all kinds of women from all kinds of backgrounds, but the toughest women for me to befriend were women whose faces were partially cloaked. It takes a bit of courage to initiate a conversation with someone that you cannot see, but even after I fought through my own hesitancies to initiate a conversation, the woman on the other side was reluctant to respond back to me.
4. Face masks are likely to be a long-term recommendation from the CDC. As of September 2020, Dr. Redfield said that face masks are likely more effective than the vaccine. If that is proven true, then we are likely going to be mandated to wear mask for a very long time. Would you be willing to embrace the mask if it were a long term solution? Perhaps, I could consider embracing the masks if I knew it was only for a few months but knowing that, this pill is getting too big to don.
Thanks for sharing! I too feel this way and understand both sides on this, but for me and my family find it difficult to believe all the contradictions on the positive and negative outcomes of wearing the mask. I wear when I have too and don’t when not forced. It’s sad seeing people where them alone in their autos or when outside and nobody is in close proximity to them. God help us all! Vive Cristo Rye!
ReplyDeleteThank you Lena for bravely sharing your insights. One would have to wonder if the initial "mandate" was just easy enough to follow but subtle enough to allow compromise where a line should have been drawn very early. This culture does not like to draw lines because lines divide, but in reality our lines are drawn by the Word of God and none other. Hitting the nail on the head with the shame it is to cover ones face, most importantly when facing God in worship and in prayer. Have we not been told HE holds our every breath and knows the number of our days? Yes...perhaps in a world that does not know God who lives in fear, we can put on a mask to quail those fears of real danger, but shouldn't we be spreading a message of faith and trust instead. I don't imagine a savior going into the temple with a mask on, more likely he would be seeking out those who were not allowed in the temple because they were unclean.
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