Have you ventured out yet to a store while wearing a protective facemask? We’ve done it enough times to know that they’re far from comfortable, make it difficult to breath and can cause your eyeglasses to fog up. And then there’s…the look.
You know the one. You’re obediently proceeding one way, and only one way, down the snack aisle at the grocery store when you approach another customer, one who’s not wearing a mask, confident in their biological Covid-resistant superiority. Or maybe one who is wearing a face covering, but who appears to be ticking off criteria on a mental list of mask specifications. The look you get when your own naked face is assessed differently, kind of like, you insolent predator, how dare you defy the rules? Their eyes hint at feelings of disdain, insult and disrespect.
If you happen to leave your cart and go back a few steps the wrong way down a one-way aisle, well, don’t even get me going on that look. It’s similar to the impatiently waiting glare worn by cart-pushers who struggle with the challenge of passing a slow moving shopper while still maintaining six feet of separation. Ah, angst in the age of social distancing.
If you have some sort of Niqab fetish, your time has arrived. We have all been suddenly thrust into the realm of Sharia Law when it comes to face covering. And it is ironic, given all the racism and anti Muslim discrimination in the time before the year 2020. Eyes peering out Salome-like from behind cloth-coverings hint seductively at hidden smiles and frowns. Which is it? Is that person angry or joking with me? Fortunately eyes tend to smile, crinkling up when laughing, and thankfully the haters with their flashing, piercing glances cannot demand our heads on a platter.
There are forty-three muscles in the human face. We are masking many of the ones most expressive of our emotions and reactions. We are quickly learning to communicate differently and will never again underestimate the power of a wink, a nod or the sweeping extension of a hand that can so graciously gesture, “No, please, after me.”
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