more on perspectives
i am recently back from ecuador. while in saraguro, a tooth began to bother me and i went to the dentist, who was an uncle of the family i was living with. he found three cavities, which he showed me, and a stain on another tooth that for the moment, is nothing but a stain. he filled the three cavities and it cost $36 dollars for two visits and 3 fillings.this week, upon my return to Ohio, i went to the dentist to get my teeth cleaned, as they were due for a cleaning. i informed the dentist about my cavities, and he replied, "You went to the dentist in ECUADOR? That was gutsy." i wish i could get his tone across to you over cyberspace, but you can just imagine. what i wanted to say was "Excuse me, but just what do you mean by gutsy? Because it is supposedly a third-world country? Does everyone in Ecuador live in crude huts with a banana leaf for covering? Do they not clean their teeth in Ecuador? Do they not know how to study? Is the dentist a dangerous place to go in Ecuador? Sorry, but the office was every bit as clean as yours, Dr. Priesand, if not cleaner because there wasn't carpet, the dentist went through just as much school as you did, if not more because he's also an orthodontist, and he had just as many shiny, scary instruments as you do. And he was even indigenous." gasp!!!
the other topic of this blog is the fact that i didn't say this. i didn't react in the way that i wanted to react, which happens all the time and i know i'm not alone. i simply laughed, and let him continue in his stereotypes and wrong judgments. and without insurance, this fun visit to the dentist also cost the fun total of $160. then, while looking at my teeth, he acquired a superior attitude, as if dentists in Ecuador were stupid or blind. "Well, I don't see anything, I mean, I see the fillings, but I don't see anything."
well, of course you don't see anything, the cavities were FILLED.
anyway, i'm in the process of learning how to react when i want to react and not be filled with these regrets after the fact, of not having said anything to correct this man's arrogant attitude. any suggestions are welcome. perhaps someone can help me by role playing.
and by the way, we are $53 trillion in debt.
posted by leah v @ 2:23 PM
4 Comments:
Dear Leah - I guess your experience with your local dentist was a classic case of "arrogance = ignorance " - what do you think? Anyway, I hope that the next time you're in that type of situation you DO enlighten the poor soul! Love, Grandma
well said, grandma, well said!
HAHAHA! Geez Leah, now I know that when we were talking and you kept laughing every 2 minutes, you were really thinking, "What a heinous idiot". Good to know. Anyway, I liked this post. You should post more often. I do have a question though. Do you intentionally not capitalize? Anyway, I love youu! -Olgita from Ecuador (The person who called you a "hippie" during your neonazi interrogation the first night)
hey Olga,
crazy you found my very neglected blog! i'm sure it was happy for a visitor.
when you say capitalize i assume you are referring to letters and not principles of the market but in either case, i often don't. although sometimes it's more deliberate than others.
i certainly don't recall thinking you were a heinous idiot;
although now you know - sometimes behind that laugh there's thinking going on (i have revealed my secret!) this was a year ago, and in that time my patience with racism and ethnocentrism and USism and Occidentalism has dwindled to zero.
no worries though, my laughs with you were always genuine!
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