Don't get mad at me...it's the mask

When I was a kid, I used to love watching old Cowboy and Wild Western movies, and even television shows. Life was fairly simple then and bad guys all wore black. Good guys came onto the scene and the music changed.  Yeah, life was good.

High Noon and Wild, Wild, West, The Rifleman and Bonanza... they had one thing in common. 

If you want to know who is who, look at the masks. Life was simple. I remember those. The Lone Ranger (good guy below) wore a mask to cover his eyes but every bad guy used his bandana to cover up his lower face. I always thought it was funny as if they were really unrecognizable. But apparently, the cowboys knew something I didn't. 

Here's Clayton Moore as the Lone Ranger, without Tonto his faithful sidekick played by Jay Silverheels. His eyes were covered, which tells every viewer that he's a good guy. 

The bandit with the red bandana... obviously a bad guy. See, there were rules and life was simple. 

Around these parts, we've been wearing masks for about 18 months now. Our masks are supposed to cover our respirations, so we cover our noses and mouths, even over our chins. It makes for funny looks when you see guys with longer beards yet with proper masks. But even so, it's what the government asks us to do. 

And we are not the bad guys. No matter what the lower half of our face says. In fact, what's really funny is that we have to QR check-in almost everywhere we travel. Inside a shopping centre, but first the check-in. Then inside each shop, check-in, and then, of course, check out. And then in another and then out, and ... 

What's difficult is that using the NSW check-in on our smart phone requires facial recognition. And no smart phone will recognize a person's face with a mask on. Hollywood and the bandits of the Wild West knew that long ago. So, we are constantly putting on and taking off our masks to check in. At least checkout doesn't require facial recognition. 

Even so, this is a small bit of trouble to ensure that we are safe, and that all our neighbours are also safe. And then when covid restrictions are all over, and Tonto along with everyone is free to wander the streets and shops without any difficulty or check-ins, we will look back at this season and laugh. And our teeth will show, and everyone will know we really are happy.