Navigation

Pulse of Philanthropy: Think about Who’s Asking You to Wear a Mask

Pretend for a moment that the governor did not issue an order requiring everyone in Wisconsin wear a mask. Imagine that you’ve never heard of Dr. Fauci, and the president doesn’t tweet. Consider a world with no talking heads on cable news fostering division to drum up ratings, and no politicians exploiting the pandemic for partisan political purposes.

In this imaginary world, COVID-19 is still here, but the only people you can hear from are the health professionals around you.

In that simpler and quieter existence, how would you respond if your friends at Door County Medical Center told you that wearing a mask will dramatically reduce the spread of the virus in Door County? What would you do if your neighbors at Door County Public Health asked you to wear a mask because it protects vulnerable people around you?

During our evening exercise walk through Sturgeon Bay, my lovely wife and I regularly cross paths with the CEO of our hospital. Every day, we walk by the home of our public-health officer. These aren’t Washington politicians or Madison bureaucrats. They are Door County folks whom we know personally. They and their colleagues are the same people whom my wife and I have been trusting to look after our family’s health for many years.

I suspect that in this imaginary world, the hyperbole and vitriol that have characterized the wearing of masks would quickly come to an end. There would be no politics involved. It would just be our friends and neighbors – who also happen to be our trusted health professionals – telling us that if everyone wears a mask, we will dramatically reduce the spread of the virus and keep our vulnerable friends and neighbors safe.

Still, if only a handful of us wear a mask, nothing will happen. It takes all of us to act if we’re going to accomplish our goal of eradicating this virus. And there’s something beautiful about the symmetry of this truth: The path to protecting the Door County community requires us to come together in a spirit of community and take collective action as a united community.

We human beings are at our very best when we support one another. Working for the Door County Community Foundation, every day I see generous people doing incredible things to improve this community.

The most obvious form of generosity is the money they give to help others. For instance, at the Community Foundation, our Emergency Response Fund has received about $800,000 in contributions that are now being used to provide food, pay rent and help families that are struggling during this global pandemic and the resulting recession. (You can learn more at RespondDoorCounty.org.) But generosity isn’t limited by your ability to write a big check.

We all know about the heroism of emergency responders: the professionals we count on to be on the front line of any crisis. During this crisis, our community has also been blessed with “everyday responders”: ordinary people who have stepped forward to volunteer and help however they can. Everyday responders have been delivering meals, staffing food pantries, taking care of kids, sewing face masks and doing many other selfless things to keep our community strong.

The Community Foundation has partnered with the Peninsula Pulse and is inviting Door County to nominate people who deserve to be publicly recognized as Door County Everyday Responders. The selected individuals will be celebrated in the Labor Day issue of the Peninsula Pulse. Visit DoorCountyStrong.org to nominate someone you think is worthy of recognition.

Yet perhaps the simplest form of generosity is ultimately the one that will have the most dramatic effect on our community – but only if we all do it together as a community. It’s the simple act of wearing a mask.

Goodness knows that I don’t know about the legality or constitutionality of the governor’s order requiring all of us to wear a mask. I do suspect that if it’s constitutional for a government to require me to wear pants so that the community is spared from having to look at my private parts, it’s probably also constitutional for the government to require me to wear a mask so that the community is spared from any virus I might spread. But hey, what do I know?

Regardless, wearing a mask isn’t about legality, or constitutionality, or even liberty. Wearing a mask is about community. It’s an act of generosity. Wearing a mask is each of us doing our part to keep our community safe.

Reach Bret Bicoy at [email protected].

Related Organizations