They Suffer Silently Behind the Mask

My mind has changed during the last two-years – trudging through the perceived pandemic in California – as most people continue to double-mask, despite being vaccinated/boosted.  It has broken my heart seeing how grown adults, supposed “leaders”, completely screw kids over by locking them out of schools – and forcing them to cover their faces.  And now, instead of being brave and telling children “it’s ok, it can be like before again,” they continue to peddle fear – and put pressure on kids.  My daughter is one of the only unmasked kids at school – and I envy her bravery. 

I decided to get her vaccinated and “follow the science,” but it didn’t make a difference for her, or the other children who “followed the science.”  They continued to force face-coverings – and teachers promoted fear in front of students…a population with the lowest risk. 

Adults did this because of their own irrational fears – and it’s pathetic.  I am downright appalled by what has happened in California.  I struggle living in a state that is willing to prevent children from attending school – while forcing them to cover their beautiful faces to appease the fear of irrational adults.  My daughter told me “Dad, my friends wear the mask because they don’t like their face.” Lots of kids hide behind their face coverings for many reasons – none are for fear of COVID.  This continues to be normalized by schools and the public education system generally, covering faces, and it is causing long-term harm to children.  The already anti-social kids find sanctuary behind the mask – and the kids who have acne or didn’t get braces yet (another reason my daughter told me) do too. 

We have set so many kids back who desperately needed social interaction – and to see the faces of other children – their peers.  They need to see faces of adults who are supposed to lead and protect them.  Instead, they push kids farther into their shells – and are even bringing topics adults can’t talk about productively into classrooms.

I wonder at what point do full grown adults show courage – and stand in front of children and say: “we were wrong!”  Shutting down schools resulted in unnecessary learning loss and delayed the social development of millions of children across our country.  Millions of kids missed graduation, prom, senior year of sports, band concerts, senior week, field trips, etc. 

“We were wrong!”  Shutting down sports/extracurricular activities exacerbated the aforementioned issue – and also resulted in kids getting fatter during a pandemic with a virus that attacks obese people, and some became Vitamin D deficient (another big issue linked to severe COVID).  What kids were forced to do was 100% counter-productive, in hindsight. 

“We were wrong!”  Masks stunted the language development of the youngest and most vulnerable – while impacting the mental health of all children.  We have a generation of children who have yet to see their teachers face, and most of their peers faces – and for many young children, this is all they know.  Masks, in the end, did little to stop transmission of the virus – it’s only purpose was mitigating the fear of irrational and boosted adults. The worst side effect?  Adults completely fucked over kids – and in the Bay Area, they are still more than happy to move forward with arbitrary, ineffective and fear-based policies. 

Our nations youth are owed a giant apology – yet all I hear is silence.