I wear my mask in public for three reasons

[LuckyCharms]

54. Here's the way I look at it.

I'm a juvenile diabetic.

I have hypertension, that 4 different meds can barely control.

I take 16 prescription meds per day, plus 6 to 8 needles per day of two different kinds of insulin.

I have stage 3 chronic kidney disease, knocking on the door of stage 4.

I have an auto-immune skin disease.

My diabetes is so brittle that I get about 2 hours sleep a night, due to my glucose monitor sounding loud alarms for either a high or low glucose.

My brother was killed by this disease. We have the same genes, and he wasn't as sick as I am.

I want to go out, like everyone else does. And I do. But I view unmasked people as flying bullets that I need to dodge. So I wear a ridiculously well-fitted N95 and hope I don't get it, and hope I do not bring it home to my wife, who is also compromised.

My wife works with disabled adults. I hear stories every day about how some of these individuals are ending up on ventilators in spite of being vaxxed.

We both contribute to society. We both work our asses off, in spite of our illnesses.

When I hear people complaining about a mask, I think about the people of Ukraine, who literally have to walk TO ANOTHER COUNTRY with their clothes on their back, along with their children.

I've been messed with twice about wearing a mask, and I slapped them down verbally quickly. I get looks every time I go out with a mask. I get smirks.

When people say "I'm done", I think "I'm so done that I fantasize about someone getting physical with me over my mask, so I can fucking throttle them".

Yes, a mask is not pleasant. But there are worse things. I view unmasked people as I would someone who is trying to kill me. I view people saying "I'm done" as being weak, and uncaring towards others.

I have a lot of living left to do in spite of my health problems, and no son of a bitch is going to take that away from me. Sorry for the language, but I'm expressing exactly how I feel.