A TEACHABLE MOMENT

[schlomo]

A Teachable Moment

Today, the Hawaii Symphony Associates, a quasi-PR organization that my wife and I joined a few years ago, conducted its monthly Q and A.

Mid-way in the meeting, I noticed a very large unfamiliar woman who was seated opposite me at a good distance.

Suddenly, the big lady blasted out a decibel-bending cough that reverberated in my ears for a few moments. The noise was appalling, but what disturbed me the most was the possibility that my fellow volunteer might have been a spreader of the newest Covid-19 variant.

The middle-aged lady soon put on her mask, perhaps intending to make amends for her unhealthy outburst.

At the same time, I noticed that an elderly woman who sat to the left of the cougher was frantically trying to pry something out of her uncooperative purse. I was convinced that she was looking for her mask because while sitting next to me last week at a chamber concert, she had worn her mask throughout the performance.

Whether I was right or wrong about her motive, after the flustered woman scurried though her purse, she couldn’t find what she was searching for; so she stuffed the remains back into her bag, stoically enduring the rest of the meeting.

I made a vow after this incident. I need to carry a readily accessible mask with me at all times. In case someone near me burps, belches, wheezes, sneezes, or coughs, I will be prepared to protect myself from any respiratory virus that might aggravate my already immunologically compromised body.