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I Just Shopped at Lowe’s Wearing an N95 Mask

It reminded me of a panic attack. A claustrophobic, closed-in feeling.

The Good Men Project
4 min readApr 17, 2020
Photo credit: Shutterstock

By Jeff Cann

It reminded me of a panic attack. A claustrophobic, closed-in feeling. Restricted breathing and obscured vision — except it lasted for forty minutes. I just shopped at Lowe’s wearing an N95 mask. Bear with me, lots to explain:

Lowe’s — The other day, a blogger mentioned watching a TV show on ABC. Oh, interesting, I thought, they have the American Broadcasting Corporation in Australia too. Later that day, it occurred to me… I’m so American. I go through life assuming the entire world follows the same conventions as I do. I’m trying to do better. For those of you not living in North America:

Lowe’s is a home improvement retailer. A giant box store selling tools, building supplies, small appliances, landscaping and garden supplies, etc. I go there almost every weekend with my son, Eli. He’s fourteen, his hobby is scouring YouTube looking for videos of people destroying stuff. Almost every week, he’ll announce that he needs to go to Lowe’s for some obscure item to help him make a bomb or a weapon. We’ve shopped for stump remover and septic cleaner (bombs), PVC pipe and a propane grill lighter (cannon), last week we bought a power tool called an angle grinder. This…

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The Good Men Project
The Good Men Project

Written by The Good Men Project

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