My personal letter to the editor: no need to be rude about public health
My letter to the editor published in the Portland Press Herald, in Maine and the responses I have received:
During a visit to a midcoast grocery store, I was wearing a mask and rubber gloves.
Suddenly, a brute of a man, without a mask, deliberately came toward me from the opposite direction from the one that was marked with a large directional arrow, taped on the store’s floor. He pushed me and made a highly visible reach in front of my face, to grab a bottle of ketchup.
“You are going the wrong way!” I said. His response was: “Yes, I suppose I am.”
People who object to wearing protective masks in public are ostentatiously making wrong-minded political statements in the face of public health advice.
Nevertheless, the refusal to wear masks for the purpose of protecting others from contagious air-borne droplets should not allow them to deliberately harass others who want to comply with public health advice.
After I paid for my groceries in a safe transaction, where the polite grocery clerk was behind a Plexiglas shield and a courteous gentleman put my purchases into clean plastic bags, I went to my car, sat inside and cried about the rudeness of a man who obviously singled me out, just because he could. Unfortunately, he was symptomatic of political polarization that has put the fundamentals of proven public health aside and will inevitably cause an exacerbation of the coronavirus pandemic. “We are all in this together” is lost on rude people who have no reason to harass those who want to diligently follow public health advice.
Juliana L’Heureux, Topsham Maine
Suddenly, a brute of a man, without a mask, deliberately came toward me from the opposite direction from the one that was marked with a large directional arrow, taped on the store’s floor. He pushed me and made a highly visible reach in front of my face, to grab a bottle of ketchup.
“You are going the wrong way!” I said. His response was: “Yes, I suppose I am.”
People who object to wearing protective masks in public are ostentatiously making wrong-minded political statements in the face of public health advice.
Nevertheless, the refusal to wear masks for the purpose of protecting others from contagious air-borne droplets should not allow them to deliberately harass others who want to comply with public health advice.
After I paid for my groceries in a safe transaction, where the polite grocery clerk was behind a Plexiglas shield and a courteous gentleman put my purchases into clean plastic bags, I went to my car, sat inside and cried about the rudeness of a man who obviously singled me out, just because he could. Unfortunately, he was symptomatic of political polarization that has put the fundamentals of proven public health aside and will inevitably cause an exacerbation of the coronavirus pandemic. “We are all in this together” is lost on rude people who have no reason to harass those who want to diligently follow public health advice.
Juliana L’Heureux, Topsham Maine
#wearamask
Responses to my letter hortly after it arrived in my email shortly after it was published and with the permission of the author, here is what I received (the authors requested anonimity):
Responses received:
Hello Juliana, I just want to say I read your letter this morning and want to encourage you not to let miscreants like the oaf who was rude to you get you down. You are so right about the political polarization in our country. I suspect the bum watches Fox News and somehow thinks not wearing a mask is a badge of courage. We know it is actually one of stupidity. You can counteract ignorance, but there is no cure for stupidity! I recently had a similar experience at a market in Brunswick. A woman was going the wrong way, forcing people coming towards her to yield to
her. I passed by her and simply said, "wrong way," in a friendly tone. She stopped, turned around and shouted at me, "Are you serious?" To have felt so entitled as to protest the rules the merchant and the state want customers to follow is another symptom of what's wrong in America. The experience left me more sad than angry, because I can think of no solution. Surveys seem to indicate that 85% of Americans are observing recommended or mandatory guidelines. Yet in a country of 330 million,
that means 50 million are not, so it's impossible not to run into them. I'm sorry you had this unnerving encounter in the grocery store, but please know that others are also appalled by the actions of this Neanderthal. All the best....,
Responses to my letter hortly after it arrived in my email shortly after it was published and with the permission of the author, here is what I received (the authors requested anonimity):
Responses received:
Hello Juliana, I just want to say I read your letter this morning and want to encourage you not to let miscreants like the oaf who was rude to you get you down. You are so right about the political polarization in our country. I suspect the bum watches Fox News and somehow thinks not wearing a mask is a badge of courage. We know it is actually one of stupidity. You can counteract ignorance, but there is no cure for stupidity! I recently had a similar experience at a market in Brunswick. A woman was going the wrong way, forcing people coming towards her to yield to
her. I passed by her and simply said, "wrong way," in a friendly tone. She stopped, turned around and shouted at me, "Are you serious?" To have felt so entitled as to protest the rules the merchant and the state want customers to follow is another symptom of what's wrong in America. The experience left me more sad than angry, because I can think of no solution. Surveys seem to indicate that 85% of Americans are observing recommended or mandatory guidelines. Yet in a country of 330 million,
that means 50 million are not, so it's impossible not to run into them. I'm sorry you had this unnerving encounter in the grocery store, but please know that others are also appalled by the actions of this Neanderthal. All the best....,
And this: My wife's friend was in a store and all the employees were wearing masks. One of the employees, pulled down her mask, coughed, then pulled her mask back up. WTF?
And this: Great letter Julie, sorry you had to experience that rude shopper. Wrong way happens here all the time. I do remind them that they are going the wrong way. So far they do apologize and say “just getting used to this new way of shopping.” It’s a new way of life for all of us that follow the rules. Those who don’t, I get as far away from them as possible. 😊
Labels: #wearamask, Portland Press Herald
posted by Juliana L'Heureux | 6:36 AM
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