1) I had a wonderful Christmas, and I hope everyone else did as well. There was one point in the night where a friend of the family managed to push my buttons, I admit it. Here’s how that went...

2) It began with the friend asking me to go some place for an entire day, which would involve a mask to get in.

Me: I don’t wear a mask.

Friend: It’s one day. You’re wearing them into stores.

Me: No, I’m not.

3) Friend: You don’t? Not at all?

Me: No, they do not protect anyone.

Friend: Well they’re meant to protect others around you, and…

Me: No, they don’t, and…

Friend: Well that’s just selfish! (CNN spiraling through my mind) You could get your parents sick, and you could….

4) Me: I am not the person you want to have this argument with (trying to diffuse the situation and give her an out before I lost my shit on that last statement).

Friend: ...and you could get others sick. What happens when someone dies? Then how will you feel? And….

5) Me: I am not the person you want to have this argument with

Friend: rambles, accuses, reiterates fears, briskly walks outside to smoke.

Me: Texted her an onslaught of statistics while she enjoyed her smoke, before she even made it back inside. Rambling stopped. Peace at last

6) Did I do that to change her mind? I knew it couldn’t be changed right then, but I also knew it could seed her mind with stats she can later lookup. Of course, I also did it because I was pissed, but mostly, because I wanted to put a hard end to this insanity on Christmas Day.

7) I have this vision in my head - a vision of walking along a path that takes me to the edge of a mountaintop. The path doesn’t continue, for if you step forward, you will fall to your death.

8) Then one day I’m walking with a stranger, and the stranger is in front of me and turns around and begins to walk backwards, so as to have a conversation face to face while we walk. As this stranger approaches the edge of the mountaintop, they have no idea that it ends there.

9) I must stop them and tell them, “you cannot see the path before you because you are currently blind to it, but if you just turn around you will see that you are about to fall over the edge to your death. Please trust me and turn around so you can see it for yourself.”

10) I see the path that lies ahead, as many of us do, and it is heart wrenching that oftentimes those we care about are unwilling to simply turn around to see what we see before it’s too late. I pray every day that a larger portion of humanity awakens sooner rather than later.