They,
Faceless
And faithless,
Fostering fear,
Make freedom a crime
While preserving their own.
Impose what could be chosen,
Blame science and necessity
Isolating the isolated
While hidden mouths speak words we do not hear.
We, the faceless, now hide behind the mask,
Our compliance or condemnation,
Eye meeting eye, expressions veiled,
Muffled words, muzzled voices,
A land bereft of smiles.
A world in mourning
As common sense,
Demonised,
Unmasked,
Weeps.
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About Sue Vincent
Sue Vincent is a Yorkshire-born writer and one of the Directors of
The Silent Eye, a modern Mystery School. She writes alone and with
Stuart France, exploring ancient myths, the mysterious landscape of Albion and the inner journey of the soul. Find out more at
France and Vincent. She is owned by a small dog who also blogs.
Follow her at
scvincent.com and on Twitter
@SCVincent. Find her books on
Goodreads and follow her on
Amazon worldwide to find out about new releases and offers. Email: findme@scvincent.com
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Sue Vincent's Daily Echo 
Very strong Sue, very true.💜
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Sadly ❤
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I wore a face mask for the first time the other day, and didn’t like it one bit. I felt deceitful, sneaky and dishonest, and couldn’t wait to take it off. They say they don’t help keep you safe anyway. Just hope these rules don’t last long…
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Actually, there have been studies done on the various ways of containing the virus. I read an article posted in The Lancet. It stated that the most effective way is by physical distancing, but, I suppose that you, like me, have noticed that while people were very good at the start, distancing has almost gone, now.
The article went on to say that the wearing of masks actually does help to stop the spread of the virus. The view that it doesn’t was erroneous. Look at the countries where they have been the most successful in containing the spread. Like Japan. They imposed face masks early. Now look at the countries where they are arguing about it, like the US. They are one of the worst countries for infection.
Wearing of face masks is to stop spittal from your breath when you breathe and especially talk from reaching other people. Think of a cold winter day. You can actually see these droplets. And they go further than you think. Someone coughing in the aisle of a supermarket releases droplets that, in 7 minutes have reached the next aisle when the cougher has long gone.
The wearing of face masks is more for the protection of others from you. You can get filters to put in the mask if you so wish. I have no evidence of the efficacy of them, though.
Yes, they are uncomfortable, and if you wear glasses like I do, they steam up so you can’t see much. I run my fingers over them to clear the lenses, and make a joke.
I have a friend who died from this disease. It can be a slight feeling of being unwell, but it can be horrific, as it was with Geoff. It can also leave people with feelin tired for months afterward and can also damage other organs such as kidneys, heart and even brain.
Most people will, fortunately, not have any direct experience of it, and I think that’s the problem. It’s just a news item. Something rare that’s not going to affect them or their friends and family. As a result, they are getting lax.
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I had to fish this comment out of spam, for some reason.
I do think most people are aware of how horrific this disease can be… and also aware that masks are now mandatory in many places as protection for others along with the reasoning behind that. Even though the change comes late.
My personal objection is the way in which fear, rather than accurate information, has been the focus and the demonisation of any dissenting or questioning voice… or of those who do not wear masks because they genuinely cannot do so. On this first day of mandatory wearing of masks in shops, I witnessed one poor woman rather nastily castigated for not doing so. She has COPD and is exempt from the ruling. But how can we know, unless such people are supposed to wear, say, a symbol pinned on their clothes?
I would not wish to downplay the severity of the disease, nor the role those on the front line have played. Every loss is tragic and especially for their families and friends. But, as our country has, sadly, suffered more deaths per capita than most other nations, I’m afraid my confidence in the way things have been handled at the top is rather dented.
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I can’t wait until we get the all clear!
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Me neither.
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Along with around nine million others in this country, I rely a lot on lip reading… face masks certainly don’t help me. I’ll wear one to help reassure others… but I resent the fact that we can’t be trusted to be sensible and will be fined… and seen as uncaring…. if we don’t wear the things.
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Apparently, so Anita has just told me, they have see through masks for this reason…
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They do, but they only work if the people you are trying to hear is wearing them… and unless you are hard of hearing, you probably wouldn’t think to wear one.
They are also prone to steaming up and are appently less effective as protection.
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There’s always something…
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Wow… a sad truth indeed. 💔👍🏻
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BOOM!
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I have to respectfully disagree. The mask is mostly to protect others in case you carry the virus and don’t know it. I hate them too. I have asthma and it makes it harder to breathe. But the 140,000 deaths and rising in places where people refuse to wear masks are enough evidence for me. Freedom implies taking responsibility for the results of our action or failure to act.
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I wear a mask to protect others, but demonising those who don’t or who, for medical reasons, cannot… and making it an offence, instead of allowing us to act responsibly…that I object to.
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Here many more people demonize those who do, like they are sissies because they want to keep both others and themselves from becoming ill. Should people be arrested? That’s silly. But too many people will clearly never act responsibly on their own. If it only endangered themselves, they can do what they want. But if it causes other people to die, and they need to be shamed into acting for the greater good, then it needs to be done. Would you let anyone you know drive when they are drunk, saying you don’t want to demonize them for acting irresponsibly, so you won’t say anything? It would be irresponsible to do say nothing in my opinion. I don’t see how it infringes on your freedom to remind people they need to wear masks to stop the virus from spreading and possibly killing someone. No one is complaining about someone who can’t wear a mask because of a medical condition–but they should not be anywhere where they might catch the virus anyway.
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Neither vilifying those who do, or those who don’t is showing understanding or compassion. There are strong feelings on both sides, but unless we know a person’s personal circumstances, are we really in a position to ‘cast the first stone’?
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It’s true some have underlying circumstances, but in fact most don’t, at least not here in the US. That’s not why they refuse to wear masks. That’s not why they go into state legislatures with their guns and demand no rules and open bars so they can drink with their friends to their heart’s content (yes it really happened, and no the police did nothing to stop them)
I did read your comment about the woman with COPD–I know what it can be like–if she lived in NYC 10 people on the line would have volunteered to go in with their mask on and get her what she needed and probably have refused payment. It makes me sad to think of someone living with such a problem and with no resources to help them through hard times. People think of New Yorkers as hard hearted, but amany people have gone around the building I live in and stuck notes under doors or by the elevators volunteering to do whatever people needed that they couldn’t manage because of the pandemic.
On the other hand, all those young men hanging out together who are too macho to wear masks…I don’t say anything but I do worry about their families. I can guarantee many live in multigeneration households with grandparents.
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There will always be kind hearts who go out of their way to help others… and others who turn any unusual circumstance to their advantage, personaland political. I would like to think they are the minority.
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I believe that too. But here in the United States with no mask mandates people are not going to wear them. And we will never even have a chance to return to any sense of normal, and people will just keep dying. That’s not the future I want for myself or for anyone else.
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As I was shopping for Nick this morning, and with masks now mandatory in England’s shops, I not only saw many ignoring the ruling completely, but noted that now that masks must/are supposed to be worn, social distancing has gone out the window overnight.
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Indeed a comedy of errors. We can only do our best.
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We can.
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We all have to do what is best for us, and common sense tells us to protect ourselves. There will always be exceptions, but our government has done too little too late IMO. I don’t like wearing anything on my face, but will wear a mask as I feel it is protecting me as well as others and it’s not as if I have to wear it 24/7. More than anything though, it is the lack of social distancing and respect for other people’s space that I find unacceptable. Again, my opinion.
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I have to say that social distancing is being well respected in the very few places I have been since this began. Apart from a hug from my little granddaughters.
I have been underwhelmed by offical response, I have to say. As a carer, I’ve had half a dozen official emails throughout the lockdown. Two were to tell me to ignore the previous ones as they’d sent out the wrong document or to say they couldn’t manage what the previous email had promised. The other one was an apology for accidentally releasing the details of every carer in the county in one of the emails…
My opinion is not high either 😉
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The dog walkers we come in contact with on our walks here are all distance conscious, as are we, but visitors here? Fat chance. (Sigh) Keep safe Sue.
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I doubt we will get many visitors here 😉
But I know what you mean, Di.
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Who would’ve thought that doing something so simple to care for others would become so divisive and politicised? Oh wait …
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It shouldn’t need to be…
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I think that you have a point. My mother told me at the beginning of this pandemic ”Does it mean that a virus whose spread can be stopped with alcohol based sanitizer has no cure??”
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While this poem was in noway about the virus, your mother has a point.
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Thank you
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