I’m writing in response to two recent letters to the editor.

The first offered an opinion that unmasked visitors to hospitals display a lack of respect for the hospital staff. As a mother-in-law to two medical professionals, I heartily agree.

I know first-hand the stress, strain and angst they have experienced these past two years. Not only have their hours at the hospital been long and arduous as they — in extremely uncomfortable PPE — worked to treat desperately ill COVID patients, but they had to also cope with the fear of bringing the virus home to their families, including children. I would add that unmasked visitors to a hospital run the risk of carrying the COVID virus into a setting of compromised patients.

The second letter, from Cindy Brown, was an extremely vitriolic response to the first. I found her letter both uncalled for and disheartening. Uncalled for because at no time did the first letter writer address the issue of masks anywhere outside a hospital setting.

Disheartening because one would hope that at our age, we’d have outgrown the behavior and name-calling associated with junior high. Unfortunately, Ms. Brown’s choice of words (such as “sheep,” “fearful,” “cowards,” “face diaper,”) and phrases (such as “living in fear”) have become the norm among a certain segment of our society. This makes me wonder about their upbringing, maturity level, and values.

How fortunate for Ms. Brown and her ilk to not have anyone in the family working in a hospital setting, or to have lost someone to COVID. How lucky they are to not be taking an immunosuppressant or have a respiratory condition or be finishing or about to start chemo.

This allows them to hold tightly to their claims that there is no pandemic and that COVID is no worse than the flu.

As to Ms. Brown’s admonition to “stay home” if one is “fearful, afraid and a sheep,” many of us do that already. Although I shop for groceries, have dental and medical appointments, and visit with a small “bubble” group, I have avoided restaurants, entertainment venues and large gatherings for more than two years. If she happens to see me wearing a mask in the grocery store and is somehow enraged, that’s a statement about her mental health and not mine. My choice.

Does this make me a sheep? Having come of age during the ‘60s, I find that laughable. I have a healthy distrust of authority, but I don’t suffer from delusions about my government trying to control me. I also believe that the medical researchers, including those in the CDC and WHO, do their best to develop methods to control the diseases that affect us all, with no ulterior motives.

Perhaps this is based on my childhood experience: I remember the polio epidemic and my three classmates who were disabled by that virus, and I remember well the evening my dad — a World War II veteran of the Marine Corps who served in the South Pacific, no wimp in the least — came home from work, read the note from my elementary school informing parents that all children would be receiving the polio vaccine that week at school, and his quiet response of, “Thank God,”

Does my choice make me afraid? Being on the downside of 75, I know what’s right around the corner and I’m not afraid of that. But I will take all measures available to me in the hopes that my ending won’t be with that “face diaper” becoming an actual diaper as I lie immobilized by an intubation tube, feeding tube, catheter and multiple other wires pinning me to a bed where I lie pumped full of antianxiety drugs to offset the pain and panic of intubation.

Does my choice make me a person who is fearful? No, my fear is that I unknowingly pass the virus to someone else. Remember, my mask gives me some level of protection, but it mainly serves to protect others from me. If Ms. Brown doesn’t believe that, I encourage her — should she ever need surgery — to direct the surgical team to dispense with their masks since she “has an immune system” to protect her.

What makes me fearful is the current state of American society as displayed by the rhetoric of Ms. Brown.

How did so many become obsessed with the concept of rugged individualism (which has always been our trademark) that they have forgotten that past Americans tempered that attribute with a willingness to sacrifice for, and work together for, the common good of our society when necessary?

How did so many arrive at a point where they don’t understand that the benefits we enjoy as Americans have come to us through a stable, interdependent society that functions much like a family … individuals who disagree and even argue, but who always have each other’s backs?

And how can so many ignore the fact that no nation can ever be “great” if it lacks empathy, compassion, civility and common decency?