Dear Face Mask,
I wake up to see you lying next to my bed, can’t leave your side for the whole day, and only say good bye to you when the day is over and I’m home. But today when I woke up and saw you, a lot of things crossed my mind. You’ve changed so much in lieu with the changing events throughout the year. In the beginning, you were mainly sold in block colors of plain white, black, blue, or as surgical masks. You were a temporary little thing- nobody expected to be using you for the next 9 months after that.
2 months into using you and quarantine starting up, you suddenly became a fashion icon. Bored at home, people would stitch different designs on you, and unleash their creativity. There would be masks with funny faces, cute emojis, elaborate flowers, all personalized and telling me much about the person wearing you. It became my new hobby, observing the creativity and effort people would put into personalizing you.
4 months in, suddenly all masks I saw were black, with faces of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, words like ‘Black Lives Matter’, or ‘I can’t breathe’, and white masks with black fists printed on them. You changed from a fashion icon into a justice statement, a way to support the BLM movement. Because people outside started wearing these masks is how I came to realize the seriousness of the problem, and for that I am grateful to you for helping spread awareness on this discrimination.
7 months in, and masks change colors to being split between reds and blues. It hinted to me of the upcoming elections, and so changed your role in social justice to a political statement. Suddenly, the red masked people would avoid the blue masked, and vice versa. There was a static between people wearing these opposing masks and standing in line to cast their vote, but
my favorite form of you in this month was when it wasn’t red or blue, but the American flag of red and blue printed on you.
9 months in and we reach the me who is writing this letter. You have ultimately branched out to being something that is political, or personal, stylish, or involved in justice. You have been the one thing which protected us not just from the virus, but also helped us express ourselves this year. I wouldn’t have survived a healthy life in 2020 without you, and I’m curious to see what sort of icon you will become next.
Love,
Your grateful wearer,
Ankita Chopde