4th Report of Political Discourse
February 26th, 2022, 8am, Portland Oregon. I am walking to Little T, my neighborhood bakery. A man on the street, white and disheveled, in his 30's, curses as he walks and shuffles along. I don’t recall seeing him before.
He says, "Motherfuckers, they know it's wrong." He seems keyed up, and his hearing must be sharp, cause he turns to see me, coming up briskly behind him. He says to me, "Hey, watch the fuck out. You piece of shit. If you touch me I'll fuck you up."
He is looking right at me, in the eyes, but talking at a low volume, almost mumbling. If you don't look at these types of guys, they often ignore you, but then again, they don't often make eye contact themselves. I have met his eyes for a few seconds, which are blank, his mouth twisted into a grimace. He sees me, but does not know me, only that I am a 6 foot 2 inch man wearing a black Lululemon sports blazer, blue jeans, and a keffiyeh scarf.
I raise both my hands in a sign of surrender, and say in a clear voice, "I have no problem at all with you man."
He right away takes on a guilty dog look, and as he crosses the street hurrying away from me, says, "Oh shit, sorry man, I must have been hallucinating. My bad."
That was that, a surprisingly nice conclusion. In just another minute I am in Little T, putting on my blue surgical mask. Governor Kate Brown says the mask mandate will end on March 19th, as will the state of emergency, both of which have run for about 2 years. I wait in line, and when it's my turn the clerk says hello and greets me by name. I order a cup of coffee and two pastries.
Then I ask him, "So, will you be dropping your mask requirement when the state does?" Portland does not have a mask mandate, merely a masking advisory, since it would be redundant, as the state is among the most abundantly cautious in the nation.
He says, "You know, we haven't decided. We probably will do it for a little longer."
I say, "Well, that's too bad. I'm not going to be going to businesses who still require it."
He seems taken aback, like I've offended him. So I add, "They totally don't work. It's just theatre."
He says, "Life is theatre."
I say, "You know how we have had waves of infections, up and down? All the time we were wearing the masks, so how did it go up and down?"
He snorts in a way that I can't tell what it means. Does he think I'm impossibly stupid, or have I mentioned a new idea to him, or is he just a laid back guy who thinks it's funny I said a shibboleth? I don't really worry about that, I'm just glad he won't think I've abandoned Little T on March 19th because I no longer like their pastries.
