Reflections from a Dental Chair

By terryhershey | January 8th, 2010

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Volcano Agua January 2010

Periodontist chair actually. What happened? You don’t want to know. My favorite part? The music filling the air from the ceiling speakers; The Eagles’ Hotel California.


Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back to the place I was before
“Relax” said the night man
we are programmed to receive.
You can check out any time you like
but you can never leave.

Who says there is no cosmic synergy?

Actually, my day began in a Radiology Office. Sitting next to me, a young (maybe 5 or 6) Guatemalan boy. He tugged my sleeve and asked, “Puedo salir ahora?” (Can I leave now?) I smiled, because I know the feeling. I told him, “Tenemos que esperar solamente dos minutos.” (We only need to wait a couple of minutes.) (Hoping that it was true.)

I’m not much for pain, so in the chair I had one mantra to get me through, “Vicodin.”

Someone said (help me if you know), that if you feel down, the best medicine is to cross the street and help someone else.
I’m not going to tell people who feel bad that they don’t feel bad. That is cruel and manipulative. And often done in God’s name.
But here’s the deal: when the lens for my world is only my pain, it is easy to be disconnected. It is easy to be myopic.

Until.
There is a crease, or a crack in our protective armor. When that happens, we feel, understandably, our weakness and vulnerability and fragility. . .our humanity.
Often, this can turn us inward.
Or, we see that we are not really alone in a bigger world. Living fully-alive comes in our ability to pause, to be present even in this vulnerability; the vulnerability that connects us all.

One of the reasons we don’t have peace
is that we have forgotten
that we belong to one another. Mother Teresa

Note: I have many friends who live and work here in Guatemala. Here are some of the ways they help to connect us.

Note about making comments: Some people are having difficulty posting their comment. In a previous post Suchin added this helpful tip, “If you’re using Firefox, you have to click “preview” and it will take you to a word you have to type in, one of those “no, I am not a spam robot” confirmations. If you don’t hit preview and just hit post, your comment will vanish never to be seen again”


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do less. live more.