It’s funny how things change. The other day, when I was at an airport, traveling somewhere in Europe, I saw an Asian lady wearing a surgical mask. And as I watched her walking by, I thought to myself: she must be terribly afraid of catching some bug while traveling among a lot of strangers. And then a thought struck me: Only a couple years earlier, I would’ve thought this lady was terribly sick herself and trying to protect others from getting what she suffers from. And then I realized: It’s funny how a couple years abroad can change your perspective so drastically. I used to laugh (secretly, of course) about the silliness of people wearing such masks. Now, that I’ve learned to understand why they do this, I’ve learned to be a little more sympathetic with people like that Asian lady at the airport …