Just going to share a quick story. I'm not a leader, I'm definitely a follower. When I have had to lead, I've done the job well enough, be it at projects for work or otherwise. However, I would rather be a good worker bee than the queen so to speak.
That said, I tend not to be confrontational. I've still been wearing my masks despite the mandates in Texas. I went into an Albertsons, wearing my mask. and I saw two older gentlemen in their 50's. Neither of them where wearing their chin diapers, and they both had an air of strength and power, as in do not approach us about fucking masks. It inspired me.
I immediately took mine off. Nobody said anything.
Today, I went to the same Albertsons, this time without my mask completely. Nobody said anything once again. Then another man looked at me while wearing a mask himself as I walked past him.
When I checked out, I saw him again, this time without the mask.
The point is this: there are a lot of folks like me out there who aren't the leaders, or necessarily the ones who will pull the trigger. That is NOT a bad thing. We all can't be leading the charge. However we WANT to do the right thing. It just takes a spark to push people like me to act. If you know you are an alpha leader type, remember that next time you enter a store, and pull off your mask.
I've never worn a mask. I'm almost 80. When I go into stores sometimes they get on me a bit but I tell them to go fly a kite - sometimes loudly. In Walmart, shopping for groceries, people sometimes look at me over their masks and I can tell there is some hint of something in their eyes - sometimes resentment sometimes honor. Now more people are without masks (in Missouri which never had a state mask mandate) and the masked folks are starting to look evasive or apologetic.
I hope this whole asymptomatic transmission idocy, which is so very obviously only for the purpose of frightening the masses into cowardly siubmission to tyranny, finally becomes a worldwide lesson in discrimination and the courage to act on the fruits of discrimination.
Those who see truth but cannot find the courage to act on what they see are a big part of the problem. Truth to power isn't easy but the alternative is slavery.
While OP poses as sympathetic the work of finding the courage to act on the truths we know in our hearts needs to be done by all of us.
Awesome post! Thanks for sharing. It's an honor to hear the wisdom of elders on the forum. Young, old, and in between, we're all in this together!
P.s. if I saw you loudly telling someone to Go Fly a Kite, I would literally be cheering you on. Nothing pleases me more than yelling at idiots. I admit, it's a weakness of mine to take joy in it. ?