Masked

Remember the good old days when a neighbor

would knock on your door, smile and ask how

you’re doing?

Remember how, in passing on the street or

randomly at the store, when a stranger would

smile and greet you, Good day?

Nowadays, congenial exposure to one another

in dubious society is rapidly fading away. Though

they who wear black masks over the mouth

rather than the eyes still reminds me of The

Lone Ranger. Where’s Tonto, I’m tempted to

ask? (Sometimes in threatening situations,

a little sarcastic levity helps.) But then, who

knows, masks could be a disguise worn by one

of those akin to bank robbers of old. Is it a viral

disease or an attempt at rape or robbery? One

can’t tell whether they are smiling behind that

facial cover, or if in reality they harbor the frown

of a more sinister intention? Are they a threat to

you, or are you the one to be feared by them?

Distrust of the other has become the new normal,

you know. Those who are concealed by a full face

mask, those with the protruding, rounded snout are

the ones who scare the living crap out of me most.

                            -30-

Chris Hanch 3-18-2020