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The mayor of Providence, Jorge Elorza, who doesn’t exactly blind you with his wattage in the best of times, actually said on a radio talk show that people who see others not wearing masks in public should “shame” them on the spot. This was a scant week after a store security guard was shot dead when the husband of a woman who he stopped from entering the store, maskless, drove up and killed him.
His not-so-honor wanted the citizens to be vigilantes. He also wanted them to assume someone else is damaged. That’s because he assumes he’s on some higher plain of morality.
A few days after this stupid suggestion, I was in a liquor store. There was another man looking at scotch where I was, and we said, “Excuse me” to each other and maintained the sacred six feet. However, when I looked up at his face, I saw that his mask didn’t cover his nose.
“You know,” I said, laughing, “that doesn’t do much good!” He realized what I meant, and said, “Thank you, I’m still not comfortable wearing these.”
“I do the same thing!” I said, and we laughed and moved on. I didn’t assume he was flouting the law, and he didn’t assume I was the mask police. But I’ve heard people say in stores, “What’s wrong with you?! You’re endangering all of us!!”
There’s a pragmatic reason not to throw rocks from your perceived higher moral ground. One is that the other person has larger rocks and can throw farther, even uphill. The other is that he or she might also have a gun.
Our governor said, in a moment of rare charm, that perhaps it’s time to be nicer to each other when asked about the mayor’s comments. I agree. We all need good judgment. Besides, why provoke the bear?
Remember the immortal song lyric: “You don’t pull the mask off the old Lone Ranger, and you don’t mess around with Jim.” Whether it’s Jim or the Lone Ranger, you’d best leave him alone.
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