Which reminds me...
Back when the drum beats for vaxing, masking and "distancing" were raging in the public conscious (6 feet of course, the scientific number somebody pulled out of their ass) one trip to the supermarket was particularly memorable.
Whereas I'd since tired of marveling how so many were masked and gloved, yet still unconsciously rubbing their eyes after handling everything in sight, one fellow really stood out. He was, gasp, shopping without gloves, mask, face shield, quite "unprotected" except for the 1911 riding out in the open on his hip. Kind of a hippy looking guy really. The most interesting part (yes, I took pause to enjoy the tableau) was how everyone who saw this, pretended not to "notice". Magically, he was given a wide berth. Nobody gave him any grief for not wearing a mask like everybody else. At least I garnered a few glares for not having a mask on. Go figure.
If panic is contagious, are not displays of courage also transferable?
Did he not make someone think past their propaganda, herd mewling's, perhaps _think_?
Sure, many probably didn't see any courage, only threat.
But I for one _was_ heartened.
Not that this gets me past weapon retention and abdication of surprise element issues...