In the times of Corona, which mask are you wearing? (Part-1) 

In the times of Corona, which mask are you wearing? (Part-1) 

                                 

Corona pandemic is now a matter of international emergency. Countries are locking down, closing borders one after the other, people are asked to stay in self-quarantine. 

People have multitudes of reactions to the crisis, ranging from fear, panic, anger, outrage, etc. Suppose we see a person behaving in a particular manner. In that case, it is actually a mask, a deep-seated psychological reaction to the situation at hand. Let us explore the different categories of masks you can find people hiding behind… 

 

  A mask of denial and repression– 

 The wearer blatantly refuses to accept the reality and the facts or suppresses the emotions the circumstances evoke. To sum up, people behind this mask try their best ‘to ignore the elephant in the room’ or ‘try to bury their heads in the sand.’ 

 This mask is freely available. And you can find many people adorning it even if your country is in stage 2, stage 3, or whatever damn stage of the perilous attack. 

 This is the mask the neighborhood aunty proudly displays as she continues to attend her Satsang in the face of the pandemic. This is the mask a mother hands out to her teenage children when they get ready to party with their friends. The others donning these masks are the ones you see venturing out despite strict public warnings or the ones agitated and confused by the quarantine warnings. These people also believe that they are immune to the virus. Their natural immunity is way more robust than the minuscule virus. 

  

Masks of fear, panic, or withdrawal           

 The people with these masks hoard on the essentials—buy sanitizers in bulk, stock-pile drugs even when their efficacy is under the scanner.  

This is also the mask the spiritual leaders and their followers flaunt. Some of them have a fool-proof method to not feed into fear or raise its vibration. It is easy—you just shun the latest updates or any news regarding COVID-19.  

  

Mask of intellectualization  

All of us have that one friend, a well-wisher like my pal Chaman Ji. I have now muted all the WhatsApp groups he is a part of. He is up to date with all the latest statistics of COVID-19 and is often found spilling his extensive knowledge on these groups. It obviously doesn’t do much for lesser mortals like me except to strike terror in our already fragile hearts, scaring us stiff. 

To come to think of it, poor Chaman Ji is also displaying his well-worn out mask. 

People behind this mask love to engage themselves in the elemental nitty-gritty of the situation, just like Chaman Ji, who can discuss and dissect the COVID-19 problem with mathematical precision. Safe under his intellectual veil, he has chosen to remove all emotions from the situation and focus only on quantitative facts. 

  

So dear people, don’t ridicule people like Chaman Ji who post the latest updates; they are in dire straits themselves, trying to hold their heads above water. 

  

You can read Part 2 here…

Picture Credit- Rach Teo/ Unsplash

#corona,#pandemic,#masks,#peoplereact