My father believed you could tell the calibre of a man by his shoes, his watch and his pen. He was born in the 1930’s and thankfully social cues have changed, yet I wonder, can we judge a person by their mask?
Mandatory for now, masks are part of our future. I know that from the growing pile in my drawer.
During the early days of the pandemic there were some hilarious DYI masks. Remember those cut up water bottles stuck on peoples’ heads while they shopped, or the couple who glued maxi pads to their faces. Inventive, but stupid.
Most people wear the boring, but practical, blue paper disposable surgical masks. Even after two years of looking at them I still get the feeling the person behind them escaped from an operating room.
Then there are black masks. Honestly since I saw Jamie Dornan in the BBC drama series, The Fall, I can never look at a black mask and not think murderer. Black is my go to colour, but never in a mask.
You can show your allegiance to any cause with your mask, like a favourite sports team, religion, country or political candidate. There are even coronavirus couture masks, with sequins and sexy prints.
The doggy masks are the cutest, (especially when the person has a beard), the creepiest are the skeleton masks.
Gaiter masks, (or neck warmers), are the silliest. No doubt the choice of suppressed bank robbers and cool snow boarders.
My mask choices are very conservative, plain light coloured linen masks are my go too. Yet due to the highly transmissible omicron variant, I’m back to wearing my Rain Goose mask I bought a year ago at Centre Stage Accessories in the Tsawwassen Town Centre Mall.
It features Dr. Bonnie’s uplifting message and has two layers of thick cotton with a removable filter. It screams, “I’m taking this virus seriously.”
Maybe before you step out into the pandemic world take a moment to check if your mask projects an image you’re comfortable with, does it reflect who you are?
Or maybe be like my husband and grab anything that’s in the vicinity, clean or dirty, and just slap it on and get the job done.
Ingrid Abbott is a freelance writer who continues to be grossed out by wet discarded masks stuck to the pavement.
