“Serving overseas as a small-town boy from America is intense, stressful and humorous! Enjoy a light-hearted story with me from our last 20 years overseas!” – Matt
Protective, Political … or Practical
All over middle America (and the world) people are dealing with issues about wearing a mask during the pandemic. Many feel it is a key tool to limit the spread of the virus and protect oneself and others. Others see wearing masks as a political position to use to promote a given platform or perspective on policy or political party.
Where we live overseas, the people have largely confronted the topic of mask wearing from a third perspective – practical. We don’t have extreme weather like middle America, but we do get regular sandstorms from the desert. People have realized that masks to protect from Covid work even better when trying to breathe outdoors during a sandstorm. We also have recently had volcanic eruptions nearby for several months. It is just practical to wear a mask to breathe more easily with sand dust in or volcanic suspension in the air.
Authorities over here at the moment only allow outdoor dining at restaurants and they allow the mask to drop to eat or drink. However, some have decided to be practical and raise their mask and use it as a headband to keep their hair in place.
My favorite dual-purposing use of the mask is to catch a sneeze. We are required to wear a helmet when on a motorcycle. As a two-wheeler is my vehicle of choice with traffic and no parking, I spend a lot of time helmeted up. My helmet is “full-face” and has a clear visor. It is nice to keep out dust, but a visor on a motorcycle is a bad combination when a sneeze mishap is coming my way. I try to get a hand off the handlebars in time while moving to flip my visor up to sneeze out the front of the helmet. Sometimes I am fast enough, other times I am not and have to clean off the inside of the visor when I can stop and pull over. The Covid mask has been a great friend to use when I have the sniffles as it can catch my sneezes while helmeted and on the move. And yes, I keep a backup mask on hand to replace my gooey one.
Something similar ever happen to you? Contact me and let me hear your story!
mattsmishaps@gmail.com Matt’s Mishaps, PO BOX 114, Grabill, IN 46741
