This morning (4-5-2020) a CBS Sunday Morning commentator said
“I look forward to us being nicer to one another like after 9/11. People opened
doors for one another.” Now,
transcending national origin or religion my next-door neighbor might be the
enemy as an unknowingly transmitting a deadly agent called COVID-19.
Quoted in an April 3rd article in the Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf said, during a news conference,
“Please assume everyone has the virus, including yourself. This next month will
be difficult.” https://www.post-gazette.com/business/healthcare-business/2020/04/03/Brookville-Glove-Manufacturing-protective-face-masks-orders-COVID-19-Jefferson/stories/202004020145?fbclid=IwAR3Rbr17xn8UknStiM8Gqmm-iASSPvkiRf0GyfVeiHTe71slzJDJf6ZBaAo
Rather than assuming everyone to be a friend everyone could
be the one who infects us, or we them, with COVID-19. How can such a warning
encourage us to being nicer to one another? In relation to 911 we rallied
against an external enemy. With COVID-19 the enemy could be anyone: a stranger,
a friend, a family member, a random cougher or sneezer. Why would one be
willing to open a door for another when the last person who touched the door
handle was a carrier?
Now, we are told that even in a conversation the virus
molecules can be expelled into the air between people. We were told that the six-foot
distancing of physical separation was sufficient. Now we are told that breathing
can propel the molecules into the air. (https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/04/you-may-be-able-spread-coronavirus-just-breathing-new-report-finds#) This is one factor encouraging
wearing masks when we are in public spaces.
Social distancing and wearing masks when we are out and about
might make us more fearful of one another, just as concealed carry makes us wearier
of the stranger on the street. At least, the eyes are still visible even if
behind a clear shield. One can learn a lot by watching the eyes of another.
Even when not seeing the whole expressions on one’s face we
can get some indication of another’s emotions just by watching their eyes and
forehead. It is called reading the micro expressions.(https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/to-read-someones-mind-look-into-their-eyes/)
If one is wearing a mask and
very dark sunglasses it is much more difficult to read their emotions. In
interpersonal contacts “smiling eyes” can mean the person is glad to see us, or
merely giving a pleasant greeting.
Smiling eyes
cannot tell us if the person is an asymptomatic carrier of not. Governor Wolf’s
statement, even in the presence of smiling eyes, might make us even more cautious
about one another as possible carriers of a virus which can sicken and even
kill us. As Walt Kelly’s Pogo declared, “We have met the enemy and he is us."
