Since it encourages Filipinos to be more Asian than Westerner, I will keep my mask on, even indoors or in public spaces.

As I'm in my late sixties, health risks are par on the course. At my age, I dutifully cultivate an abundance of precaution against the still-very-much-around lethal virus and its endless mutations.

That should be enough personal raison d'etre for mask-on, brooking no further discussion or debate.

So why raise unexpectedly the point that mask-wearing, which many Filipinos took first as a pandemic affectation, turns us more Asian, off-tangent though it may be?

Well, if there is anything remarkably conspicuous other than the benefits of personal protection, it is the fact widespread mask-wearing shows Filipinos have since imbibed the admirable Asian cultural trait of practicing social courtesy.

Asian social courtesy here means being acutely conscious of minimizing the chance of potential infection harboring in one's body from spreading to other peoples' bodies.

Japan's obsession with the social courtesy of wearing masks even before the pandemic, for instance, means the Japanese value avoiding transmitting germs to others rather than healthy people looking to prevent the onset of illness.

Not only in Japan. Many Asians, in fact, see mask-wearing as symbolic not just of personal protection but, significantly, of civic responsibility.

Thus, for us Filipinos, the pandemic afforded us a chance to relearn valuable lessons in civic responsibility other Asians practiced years ago.

Filipinos relearning civic duties to protect others by mask-wearing implies in turn a subtle shift from our generally westernized cultural norms into that of more Asianized cultural norms.

Filipino ethnic socio-cultural norms and practices have changed, with most Filipinos now habitually wearing masks of their own volition.

With such an Asian cultural shift, I see no irksome issues about this government's plans to make indoor mask use voluntary since I now believe dictated anti-mask mandates are largely passé.

Now, even if the use of masks remains mandatory in public transportation and medical facilities, the government's plans to do away with masks also seem to imply our officials see a masked country couldn't be our country, that such mask-wearing sight is alien and alarming.

It is as if their sighing and pining mask-wearing is hopefully a short-lived ordeal for Filipinos. They're wrong.

Their beliefs are straight out of a page from the Western playbook of stigmatizing protective facial covering.

So unlike in many Asian countries, where those who don't wear masks, especially during public-health crises, are the ones stigmatized.

How this happens to be so since "in social interactions in the West, you need to show your identity and make eye contact. Facial expression is very important," points out one social psychologist.

Before the pandemic, most Filipinos had westernized social and cultural practices. Not for anything did our reputation as a country of attractive smiles became a tourist come-on, which in turn prompted recent suspicious appeals for us to again unmasked ourselves.

Yet, why is it that habitual mask-wearing in Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong attracts more tourists?

Anyway, taking note too of the anti-masker's argument there is yet no credible evidence of the mask's efficacy, but it might be so.

Admittedly, the inexpensive mask intervention against the virus may not be as effective as good hand-washing hygiene. Though masks are especially effective when combined with hand-washing and social distancing.

At any rate, the narrow scientific question of the mask's capacity to disrupt virus transmission does not in any way refute the socio-cultural advantages of protecting and caring for others.
Mask-wearing, therefore, is not always a medical decision.

So, regardless of medical advice or relaxed mask rules, I would still keep my mask on. If only because mask-wearing is now associated with one actively promoting vital socio-cultural boons of Filipino togetherness and civic responsibility.

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Email: nevqjr@yahoo.com.ph