As we’ve watched another rise in the number of COVID cases spurred by the highly contagious Omicrom variant, my wife and I have begun wearing our masks again in most public situations. Stores. Church. Thunder games.
I’ve been feeling pretty smug about myself in my new KN95 mask purchased on Amazon.
However, sometimes my good intentions have turned into a total failure. I wrote about one incident that happened on a road trip last year.
Let me tell you about a more recent instance.
Last week, I was invited to the launch event for a new Oklahoma City business publication. It was a great event in which about 100 or so people attended.
The event was held at a co-working space on Main Street downtown. I arrived shortly after 5 pm, parked on the street, put my mask in my back pocket and promptly forgot about it before I walked into the event.
I immediately ran into several people I knew and took a few minutes to network before the scheduled program began. None of my acquaintances wore masks, but I wasn’t thinking about that.
As I was chatting with someone, I saw a friend of mine who is in the public relations business walk in. She was fully masked.
Then it hit me, I had my mask with me, but had never put it on.
I was proud of my masked friend, but ashamed of my own lack of conviction, I guess you call it.
I wasn’t practicing what I’ve been preaching.
Was it absent-mindedness, bowing to peer pressure or misguided confidence that my vaccinations and booster shot have made me bulletproof?
I’m pretty sure it was peer pressure.
Because of the Omicrom variant, COVID is racing through our population, both here in OKC and nationwide. None of us are bulletproof.
We all need to do better. I need to do better.
Jim Stafford's BlogOKC 