Yesterday I had the worst toothache I've ever had. In the night I couldn't sleep because the whole right side of my head hurt - I thought maybe it was my ear because after I took an Advil and massaged the whole side of my head around my ear I was finally able to sleep. In the morning, I had two excruciating episodes of sharp pain in my mouth, and called the dentist. At noon he was able to fit me in - "get here as soon as you can."
On the way in, I was struck by the thought of people in Japan who have abscesses (that's what I thought it was) or other terrible troubles, and they can't go to the dentist because the dentists have no electricity. Then I thought of all the people in many countries where there are no dentists, or very few and only for the very rich. And the people in this country who don't have insurance or cash, or live in a region with few dentists.
The comfortable lives we lead are, to an unimaginable extent, given to us. Why can I go to the dentist and get rid of tooth pain? Because I was born 1) an American, 2) in a region where the economy is stable, 3) into a family of means, both financial and "mindset." When something goes wrong, we believe we can fix it and we try.
When I wasn't pondering these deep philosophical truths, I was asking the Lord to make it the least serious problem possible. The dentist couldn't get my tooth to produce the same kind of pain I had had before, so he sent me home to wait and see. It could be it was just strain or stress on the tooth and it will improve by itself.
I don't believe that feeling guilty about our good fortune is productive, but I did determine that if it turns out not to be an abscess, and I don't have to have a root canal (thank you, Lord!!!), we're going to give the money we save to someone who needs dental care and otherwise can't get it. Pete agreed. While we can easily share our financial means, how can we share our "mindset means"? The mindset that says, "When something goes wrong, we can fix it. Let's try!" That's the challenge before the Church!
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