Column
Put Your Mask On and Shut the F*ck Up
Only in America could something this basic be this controversial
Moments after entering the world, my daughter was put on a ventilator. I had developed a deadly illness during pregnancy — the only treatment for which was to deliver Layla three months early, way before her lungs had a chance to properly develop. And so my daughter needed breathing assistance for the first months of her life — ventilators, CPAP machines, and nasal cannulas. Every once in a while her oxygen would dip dangerously low and she would turn blue, machines blaring before a nurse would rush over to revive her.
Even after she finally came home from the hospital, it would be years before Layla stopped getting lung infections and pneumonia, before the panicked trips to the emergency room slowed and shifted into everyday childhood colds and cases of flu. I have no intention of seeing my now-nine-year-old on a ventilator ever again, nor do I have any desire to end up back in a hospital again myself. Being deathly ill is exactly as awful as you imagine.
All of which is to say: Wear your mask and shut the fuck up about it.
Americans seem intent on distinguishing ourselves as the most selfish assholes on the…
