I understand the importance of wearing a mask.

I’m following the rules because I don’t want to get COVID or expose others to COVID.

I also find wearing a mask physically painful, especially in hot weather.

I think that it needs to be ok to acknowledge that it hurts.

Being in pain is not an insurrection against public health. Neither is having feelings about having to do something painful.

Yes, surgeons wear masks for multiple hours at a time.

Surgeons do a lot of things that I’m not capable of doing.

And, for that matter, I strongly suspect that most surgeons are not capable of doing the kind of emotional and spiritual labor that I do.

It’s not a contest.

Wearing a mask hurts a lot less than getting COVID.

Knowing that COVID hurts more can make it clearer why it’s important to wear a mask.

But understanding the importance of wearing a mask is not actually a form of pain relief.

I’d rather be in pain than dead. I’d rather be in pain than expose others to a deadly virus.

I also miss being able to leave my house without being in pain.

I also can’t walk very far wearing a mask.

I miss being more mobile.

I think that our culture needs better ways to talk about making sacrifices.

We have this weird tendency to deny that sacrifices exist and to pressure people into pretending that nothing is hard or painful.

That’s kind of degrading, for everyone.

What if we said, yes, this sucks, and it’s also worthwhile?

What if, instead of pressuring people to pretend that pain isn’t real, we were more grateful to each other for doing the right thing even though it hurts?