My first experience at wearing a mask was for "Trick or Treat"on Halloween. The basic idea is bribery, give me a treat or I will trick you. Early tricks involved soaping windows or if you were especially mean waxing windows. I was never really into wearing masks, even on Halloween. It seems that masks were discouraged in my hometown and culture. We were taught to be ourselves i.e. be honest at all times. Masks were a tool of deception for thieves and robbers. I did listen to radio shows where the star or hero wore a mask for example, The Lone Ranger, The Green Hornet, and Batman. Even Tonto had the good sense to go with out a mask.
One summer I was able to get a job working on a hand-tie-baler. Three people were required to run the baler 1st to drive the tractor 2nd Push needles and wires through the hay, and 3rd Tie wires. The most challenging and dirtiest job was pushing the "needles" (wire guide) and wires through the compressed hay so the wires could be tied on the other side to form the bale. The job was dirty because every time the plunger compressed the hay, a puff of leaves and dust was thrown in my direction. To survive the dusting I wore a straw cowboy hat, goggles, and bandana mask. When we would finish a field we would take time to remove the covering dust from our cloths. There was no problem wearing the mask when the baler was running because it had real value. (See kenglade123.com/dirty-job) Wearing a mask then may have been very significant because this was a period of atomic bomb testing in Nevada. I would later learn that the Nevada tests dropped significant amounts of radioactive material in Utah that was included in this dust.
"Wear the mask"! Everyone says wear the mask, but Tonto does not wear a mask. My mask wearing heroes of my youth only wore masks when they are fighting bad guys. Wearing the mask allows them a normal private life. We are only asked to wear a mask when the bad guy covid-19 is around. We are being forced to accept the new normal, masks are good. The real question is Good for whom?
When the pandemic started we were told don't hoard masks because they would not save us. The first responders need them. Why do the first responders need masks but not us? Do surgery teams use masks to save their patients? How do first responder masks save the infected patients from Covid-19? They don't, they save the first responders! Just like my bandana mask saved me from ingesting dust and radioactive fallout. Wear the masks for your own good!