Dean Poling

He often wondered if he should wear a mask during his walks.

He had no plans to visit anywhere. He walked a few miles then returned home. His walks sought exercise, not a destination.

Still, he carried a mask in his pocket. Just in case. He might run into a crowd of people. Or unexpectedly have to go into a store. Or someone might confront him about not wearing a mask. So, he regularly took a mask with him, so he had it if he needed it.

He encountered geese strolling across the street from one field to another more often than he met people during his walks. He hummed even sang to the geese, hoping his proximity would not startle them, hoping to soothe them if they felt he was too close.

Hard to tell how geese might take to a walking man singing to them through a mask. Of course, singing through a mask sounds sort of like humming. Animals pick up on a lot of things though it’s unclear whether their instincts are more alert to the horrors of the human pandemic or the approach of a singing human wearing a mask.

Though dogs seem to have adapted to people wearing masks. Most dogs probably don’t bark at their owners wearing masks any more. Most dogs bark at strangers whether they are wearing masks or not.

He walks past the geese. Up a street. Idling cars snake around fast-food parking lots waiting their turns at the drive-thru. People walk in and out of businesses, most wear masks, many do not. He reaches into his pocket to touch his mask, compulsively, obsessively, reassuring it’s still there. But the people are distant. He leaves the mask in his pocket.

Coming around a corner, he expects to cross a parking lot that’s a regular part of his route. Last week, he made a detour because the foundations of the lot were undergoing reconstruction.

To his surprise, a week later, the parking lot is still cordoned off by tape and men in hard hats continue their work.

How long does it take to redo a parking lot? Granted, he thinks as he makes a detour again, this must be something more than a simple repaving job, but still … 

It took only a year and 45 days to build the Empire State Building in 1930. 

During World War II, American manufacturers moved from making cars and other items to produce 296,000 planes, 102,000 tanks, 88,000 ships and landing craft.

And while, America moved at a swift speed to adapt to a war footing, World War II would be a long slog, lasting four horrible years and, if need be, the country was prepared for it to last longer. 

World War II Americans watched loved ones leave for years or to never return. They fought and died on foreign battle fields. At home, people did without luxuries and certain necessities for years … for years. 

They followed government-issued rationing programs and while some people felt the government had too much control of their lives, they did it for the good of the country and the world and more importantly, perhaps, they did it for their fellow Americans.

Now, people can’t be bothered to wear a mask or claim masks deprive them of their rights during a pandemic. And old men must change their walking path for weeks because of continued work on parking lots.

It’s like the old adage of the person who was born on third base but felt he hit a triple. American exceptionalism isn’t a birthright. It is not a “been there, done that” equation. Exceptionalism or excellence of any kind must be earned through hard work, example and sacrifice.

And so it goes with the duration of any struggle.

He walks along, circling back to go home, walking back toward the fields.

Oh, well, he thinks, feeling again for the mask in his pocket, I can always sing to the geese.

Dean Poling is an editor with The Valdosta Daily Times.