Search
Close this search box.

If You Still Won’t Wear A Mask, You’re Probably a Bad Human Being.

Friend, we need to talk.

It’s time you realized something that may be difficult to admit: you’re not who you think you are.

I know who you believe you are and who you say you are:

You imagine you’re a Christian.
You imagine you’re pro-life.
You imagine you’re patriotic.
You imagine you’re a decent human being.

You attend church and you adorn your social media profile with scripture passages about the love of God.
You proudly affix Jesus to your sleeve and to your bumper.
You prominently display the Stars and Stripes, you cry during the Anthem, and you condemn socialism.
You speak eloquently about the “sanctity of life” and lament the “killing of babies.”
You sponsor a child in Africa whose picture is taped on your refrigerator door next to restaurant takeout menus.

And because of all this, you are under the assumption that you’re one of the good guys, that you’re helping here, that you are a really decent human who makes the world better.

Your face tells a difference story.

Your naked, uncovered, face declares who you truly are: your arrogance, your selfishness, your recklessness, your disregard for the health and well-being of other people.

Your mask-less face eloquently testifies to your hidden heart in ways your words never could.

The fact that in this moment
when death is rising exponentially around you and ICUs are overrun,
when healthcare workers are pushed beyond exhaustion,
when people are dying alone and terrified and unable to touch their loved ones
—you will not simply place a piece of cloth over your nose and mouth for the ten minutes you’re at the grocery store—tells the truth about you:

You are not emulating Jesus.
You are not honoring God.
You are not making America great.
You are not protecting life.
You are not interested in loving your neighbor as yourself.

That the simplest and least invasive gesture to ensure other people will not get sick and die, has become for you a source of perceived oppression and a spot to loudly declare your defiance—should be an alarm to you that the narrative that plays in your head about your motives and your virtue, is at least partly fiction. I know that is difficult information to process.

We all have a story we tell ourselves about who we are, about what matters to us, about our presence in the world.
We’ve all spent our entire lives crafting and redacting and defending that story because it shapes our identity, defines our prejudices, and justifies the things we do. We all cling to that story as we teach our children and pray our prayers and do our work and look in the mirror.

And when we experience a painful truth that rattles that story we will respond violently to it, which is why you are so angry and defiant about a tiny piece of cloth, why you dig in your heels and flip-off strangers and feel so self-righteous.

When you look around you today at the store or in a parking lot and nearly every other human being is wearing a mask, ask yourself the questions:

Why do I think I’m better than all of these people?
What am I trying to prove right now?
How exactly am I winning and who exactly do I think I’m defeating?
What am I teaching my children in this moment?
How precisely is this loving in any way?

You may not be able to answer yourself honestly, which I suppose is part of the problem. You’re so convinced of your own goodness right now, that you can’t even see when someone is making a strong case against you—even when it’s you.

As someone who sees you clearly right now, I need you to know that I don’t think you’re Christian or pro-life or patriotic or even very good.

It’s as plain as the uncovered nose on your face.

 

Share this: