When We Don’t Want to do the Simple Thing…

“But I don’t WAAANNNNTTTT TO WEAR A MASK!!!!” The little, blonde foreigner wailed in a room filled with nearly 60 silent people trying to practice social distancing and sit on chairs marked only with the proper stickers. Every single person inside and outside, are wearing masks. The little people are obviously the cutest humans, pulling off all kinds of Disney or Animal fabrics, while the rest of us settle for boring, solid colours.

It is another day at Immigration. As I stepped up to the gate at 5:30 AM, I settled on the grass beside the sidewalk. I had come prepared, earphones, water, and food. I was fifth in line and I was excited that I could wait out most of the hours in the dark before the stifling heat settled in for the day.

Immigration is adjacent to the airport. On a normal day, the traffic would have been constant, and almost bumper to bumper. But not today. It was almost eerie. The silence. On a normal day I would not have been able to eavesdrop on the conversation two people were having in the line in front of me. There would have been too much noise.
At 7:30, the gate opened. By this time there was close to 100 people in line. Immediately, we had our temperatures taken and then we got directed to tents to sit under. There was a Long Term tent, 90 Day Reporting tent, Short Term Visa, and a COVID-19 tent. (This tent was for people who have unwanted visa restrictions do to Covid 19)

In spite of my preconceived ideas that this place was going to be a nightmare, it was not. People were respectful. Kind, even. For the first time ever, I did not hear a foreigner getting upset. I have spent up to ten hours at this place at one given time, and I am appalled how some Westerners have the audacity to speak to officials of this land. But this time, people were not in a rush. That was IT.
Everybody sitting and waiting today, they actually have time to sit and wait. They are not panicking about missing an appointment because, who has an appointment? (Ok. So maybe a medical appointment, but other than that….????)
But then the little girl with 2 pony tails popping out the top of her head, started to throw a fit.

It appeared like all the emotions of Corona were coming out. She did not want the mask. Perhaps she has only been in the country for 3 months and is still adjusting to many things. Maybe it was her first long, boring wait at Immigration. And the mask was just the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Really, a mask is quite a simple thing. The culture I am in practices it quite faithfully already. I do not get stared at for wearing it. I would get STARED at if I chose not to wear it.

All the personality types come out full fledge in time of crisis. The critics are on their band wagon.The fearmongers are mongering…The arrogant are still arroganting( ya, I probably should stop making up words) There are a plethora of ideas and solutions that people share on how best to cope these days.
What if we just all did the simple things? Maybe wearing a mask will make you scream. But it is not horrible. There are so many things I will not even mention here because we are all hearing them every.single.day.

The two-year-old inside of us might want to scream. But her parents knew best. We, as arrogant people, have to get off our little pedestals, and realize that the “parents” of healthcare are not asking hard things from us. Christians, maybe being the Light means obeying the government instead of trying to “get away with social gatherings, etc.etc.)
Naaman did not want to do the simple thing. He did not want to dip into the water. “It’s too easy,” he said.

Don’t be a Naaman. Just do the simple things, even when they seem ridiculous and you don’t understand. “But I will go insane!” you say. Pretty sure there are medications for that…
( I am NOT making light of people who need these coping meds, please just hear my point)

Let’s Do The Simple.

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