A few days ago, I was walking thru the aisles of the grocery store, wearing my mask and breathing like Darth Vader. I suppose safety sometimes takes priority over appearance. As I was passing people, I would occasionally smile, but no one could see that thru my mask. At the same time I could not see if anyone was smiling at me either as they were all wearing masks. This reminded me of a story my mother had told me. She belonged to her church choir which actually toured nationally and abroad. In the mid 1980’s they travelled to Germany for a series of concerts. While in Berlin, she had the chance to go into East Berlin. This was when the wall was still in place. So she boarded a bus for an afternoon tour to see the city sights and visit a museum. While driving thru the city, what struck my mother the most was the expression on the people walking around. She said no one was smiling. My mother was very observant of people, liked people and always greeted everyone with a big warm smile. She said these people looked sad. She remarked that even when she saw a couple, they did not appear romantic. Or when a few were standing together, it was apparent that no one was telling an amusing story or joke. The countenances were grim and very disturbing to her. At one point, she broke from the group and breezily walked down the street smiling away. She said people looked oddly at her and averted their eyes. My mother’s political critique of communism was the simple review that a society that does not smile, is not a healthy society. Later that day, back in the western part of Germany, the group was invited to a church dinner. As they gathered in the church hall, an old woman who was smiling, perhaps responding to my mother’s smile, approached her and gave her a small home baked pastry. Speaking in English with her thick German accent, she wanted to thank Americans for saving her family and her country in World War II. My mother returned from her trip with a new appreciation for smiles. A few years later, the Berlin wall came down.
As I continued shopping, I also thought about the horrible conditions of that war throughout Europe, particularly Germany. I wondered about our America. Are we in some weird terrible way conducting our own holocaust. Is America engaging in the premeditated murder of hundreds of thousands of our own citizens as the virus spreads thru the country? It seems there are a significant number of people in power who don’t care about the demise of the elderly and the poor. Is our economic condition so bad that they die regardless of which way we respond? If the Russians invaded Seattle and then air dropped their soldiers into our cities, would we consider it a local problem for each city to solve themselves? Would we let any army run thru our country like the coronavirus army has done?
Later that day, I had to go to another store. As I left my car, I was putting on my mask and walking thru the parking lot. A man was walking in my direction without a mask. As he approached me, he sneered and remarked, “you must be a democrat”.
So now I see scowls, but no more smiles.