A Visit to the Dentist
2024-10-25
During a visit to the dentist the other day, I experimented with what I recently called radical gratitude. Throughout the visit, I asked myself: how much of what I experienced could I perceive as a gift to be enjoyed and appreciated? (To be clear, I actually like going to the dentist, so this wasn't as much of a stretch for me as it might be for others.)
Well, it really is endless! Here are some aspects I observed:
- I was breathing and alive the whole time. ;-)
- I was able to get to the appointment on my own, which means I still have my wits about me.
- I drove there in my own car, which subsumes a massive number of affordances, technologies, customs, institutions, and achievements: cars and their many subsystems (engines, brakes, wheels, airbags, etc.), roads built and maintained, traffic signals, licensing of drivers, insurance, rules of the road, ownership, having earned enough money in life to buy a car, etc.
- The same goes for the physical office: the building in which it's housed with all its various subsystems (heating, plumbing, lighting, elevators, etc.), ownership and leasing and financing and the like, etc.
- The dental practice: the friendly ladies at the front desk, the hygienists, the dentist herself, the training of these folks in the craft of dentistry, the business of such a practice (encompassing incorporation, ownership, payroll, insurance, marketing, policies and procedures, office culture, etc.).
- The tools of the trade: those special dental chairs, lights, implements, X-ray machines, etc. - think of the work that goes into creating and producing all of those products by dozens of companies, each with its own supply chains and so on.
- At the end of the appointment I was able to sign a little piece of paper (my dentist gives a discount for paying by check) and walk out. Lots more infrastructure behind that simple act: banks, currency, credit, clearance systems, etc.
- And the fee was quite reasonable even though I'm "self-pay" (in my retired state, I don't have dental insurance) because in a market economy the costs for all the aforementioned inventions, products, and services are spread across millions of people. Think of how much money a king or queen five hundred years ago would have had to pay to receive anything close to this level of treatment!
So yes, we all have a lot to be grateful for, even during a simple visit to the dentist...
(Cross-posted at philosopher.coach.)
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