The Mask

3 weeks ago, for 2 days, I traveled to and from work wearing a mask. I had caught the flu(cold?) and since it was nearing the Chinese New Year, didn’t want to pass it on to anybody else and marred their holidays. I was pleasantly surprised by the reaction, or rather non-reaction that I got.

I had thought people will avoid me like the plague; nobody will want to sit next to me in the trains but I didn’t even get a stare. The only exception was a girl in the office who when she saw me coming out of the toilet, looked shocked, covered her nose/mouth and backed away! So unlike the experience of this gentleman 1 and a half years ago, it wasn’t a bad experience for me.

In the past few days, I also noticed a few people in the street wearing masks. This is a good sign. While we are still not up to speed like in Hongkong, Japan or Korea, we are getting there in our civic consciousness and social responsibility.