The great debate

When my daughter was just shy of 18 months old she endured her first ambulance ride. And no, it wasn't from our home or a park, it was from one hospital to another at midnight. At 18 months old she struggled to breathe. Her heart rate reached well over 200 and that hospital couldn't stabilize her. The cause of this all you ask, a common cold. For kids like my daughter who suffer from asthma, the slightest cold can send them into a downward spiral. So while you may not be concerned about your own health and safety during this pandemic, please think about others like my daughter the next time before you go out in public without a mask.

We are all entitled to our own opinion with anything in life so it's no surprise a pandemic as such seems to be causing quite the stir in the world. I have publicly remained silent for majority of this journey but can no longer stay that way. So here are my two cents as a mom and a human being, take them or leave them.

You see a mask as a political statement, way of the government controlling us or whatever else, I see it as a life saver. I see it being the only thing at this moment that will keep my child safe from contracting this disease. The difference between spending her summer playing in the backyard verse lying in a hospital bed. And honestly, the only way we will ever have a chance at returning to normal. Wear the damn mask.

I see your defiance as ignorant, as a slap across the face to every health care worker out there right now putting their life's on the line. Each time you choose not to wear that mask in public you are choosing to flood our hospitals yet again. You are choosing to take precious family time away from every doctor, nurse, first responder etc that they can never get back. And don't even start with me on this one, I have plenty of family and friends on those front lines. How dare you decide your freedom is worth more then another person's life?

That mask is what will open nursing homes back up to visitors again. It is what is standing in the way of my Grandma being in solidarity for another week or another few months. It is the key to pregnant women getting their rights back. Rights such as dads being allowed at appointments, birthing without a mask etc. A mask a day will help us not have to stay 6 ft away forever.

I want my child to go back to school this fall just as bad as the next person. I want her to be able to play with friends, hug her family and be a kid again. But you see until majority of this damn population get it in their heads that this cannot be done until we all wear our masks, this shit isn't going to happen anytime fast. Stop complaining, wear your damn mask and you'll get your life back again.

I wear my mask not for myself but for the health and safety of my daughter. I will "sacrifice" my freedom if it means getting to watch her grow up and live. I wear my mask for the people next to and around me. The ones whom I know nothing about. The ones who very well could have a kid fighting cancer or be so themselves. You don't know what someone may be going through so please don't be selfish and endanger them and their family over a damn piece of cloth. Wear a mask.

At 18 months old I watched helplessly as my daughter struggled to breathe. I rode in the front seat of that ambulance shaking with tears streaming down my face. I held her hand and told her "mommy's here" as she screamed and cried with fear at her 2 hour treatments and IV's. A simple cold could of killed my baby, so don't tell me COVID-19 has nothing on kids.

If only we all cared about each other as much as we did about ourselves. If only we all put other peoples needs before our own during a pandemic, how much easier this all would be. If only we thought and had the heart of a 4.5 year old who is more concerned about getting others sick then herself. A little girl who puts on the damn mask without being told, putting up a fight or complaining. Because she understands the world doesn't revolve around her.

Years from now this will be in the history books for our kids, grandkids, great grandkids etc to read. And when they do and they ask you what you did to protect and stop the spread, will you be embarrassed you defied the rules or proud of your actions? Read that question again and think thoroughly about that before making a decision next time.

Our greatest downfall isn't the disease itself, its humanity. Wear a mask.