This is the story of a dentist with a true compassionate heart AND a gifted hand to really give a painless experience while at the dentist's chair.

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Down over at the dentist's office today to have stitches removed from oral surgery to take out one of my front teeth two weeks ago, I mentioned to the dentist that, "I feel hopeless--really helpless" this year ending.

She said, "Not only you. I too feel that way " Things are changing so much ""

"Yes"" I said. "This is not the same country I came to so many years ago."

She said, "I know. I too know it has changed. I came long after you did but I had the opportunity to study and specialize in three different areas of dentistry which I love "

She continued, "Today I am worried and concerned about what will happen when I tell two of my techs they have to go home early knowing that that will reflect a cut in their paychecks."

S In the process of removing my stitches, she continued saying, "The Company wants to cut today's hours by half for two of my techs due to a slack in scheduled appointments for today. I worry how they will react when I tell them they have to go home early. They are two of my best helper/techs. We work well together. They had already been told last week that they had to take a day off--without pay. I told them then not to worry. That I would, pay them for the day out of my own pocket. I said that would be my New Year's present to them. But I can't continue to replenish for them what the company takes out in their hours and in their paychecks."

The Dentist continued " "I am conflicted. Very conflicted. I fear they'll tell me they are quitting, that they're going to have to find another job. That they can't support themselves and their families with these cut in hours and take-home paychecks." She said.

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Yes it is all about the Companies, or the Corporations. It is about profits and greed.

And when I hear on the television all these pundits and politicians say that the economy is improving, I wonder, whom is it improving for?

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"The only problem with that" I told the dentist, referring to the idea of finding other jobs, "is that there are really no jobs out there". Or, that whatever jobs there might be out there will do the same thing to them. Long ago corporations and companies used to care about their employees. They do not anymore."

This compassionate dentist who also understands the financial circumstances that prevented me from paying for a root canal for my front tooth and I had to have it pulled out instead, said:

"I know it is not the best of times. I know it is not what it was before and I know we are going down a road which does not portend any signs of anything getting better any time soon. But we can't let worry, or anxiety, or depression get the best of us. It would lead to sickness. Right now you are healthy. And so am I.

You have a roof over your head and food to put on your table and so do I. You can walk and you do not have dementia. And I have a job and a profession " " and, although she didn't say it, the implications was that she has a profession that allows her to look at this declining economy in the face and beat it"so far.

Then she said, "do you remember the girl who worked in the front office last year? She died. Of Cancer. Within Two Months of Being Diagnosed.

"And those five people killed on I-95 today. Those are real tragedies."

She also added, referring to my tooth,

'I know a partial tooth is very expensive for you to afford right now, and I know you have told me you can't afford to have one made. Let me ask the Office Manager how much it would be to have a "flipper tooth" made for your missing front tooth " we need to do something to cover that gap in your mouth."

When she came back she said, "That flipper tooth would be $350.00"

"That is doable." I said.

And smiled showing her the gap in my mouth. She smiled back.

I felt like we were two conspirators who had just beaten the system.

I still have to wait a couple of months to have the so called "flipper tooth" made to cover this gap in my mouth.

In the meantime, I will smile.

Proudly.

For the years that I had my teeth with me. For the years that I had no gaps in my mouth. And for the flipper tooth that I eventually will have.

As I was leaving the dental office, one of her "helpers" as she calls the techs who work with her was coming in the door.

My heart sank.

I wondered if she was one of the ones who is going to have to go back home early with a gap in her paycheck because the company they work for has found it best to err on the side of greed.

I do remember when companies would give employees paid holidays off.

My heart sank even more when I heard her tell the dentist, "I brought ..." (I can't recall exactly what dish or drink she said she brought but it was something to celebrate the coming of the New Year with during their lunch hour break.)

My heart sank even more wondering if this would be a happy celebration at all, or one filled with the pain caused by the greed of companies which put greed and profits first.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL SAID THE GREEDY GRINCH! ??? PERHAPS. HAPPY NEW YEAR. FOR SOME.

(Article changed on December 30, 2015 at 16:03)

(Article changed on December 30, 2015 at 19:36)

Authors Bio:
E.T.SIMON ... Keeping the Bio Real and Transparent ...
E. T. SIMON is more often like a transplanted palm tree from the land of Santiago de Cuba where she was born to a Cuban, Tulane University, lawyer educated father and, a Mississippi, mother, great-granddaughter of American Revolutionary War hero, Brigadier General Andrew Pickens who is credited with the victory against the British in the Battle of the Cowpens. Although at times, E.T. Simon is more like, the fruit of the pecan of her Mississippi grandparents pecan farm of long ago, or even like the Sycamore so firmly rooted in the Florida Peninsula. As such, the daughter of bi-cultural, bi-lingual parents, E.T. Simon navigated the bi-cultural ties, bi-lingual shores of her birth, while learning to appreciate Cuban and Southern cuisine and cultures, from a very early age.

At the age of 15, two years after her mother's death, she dreamt about running away from her home to join the , "Bohemians" of the 1950s in New York's Greenwich Village and become a writer. She did not. In 1961, at the age of 18 her father sent her across the pond to her mother's family in Mississippi in an effort to keep her from falling prey to Fidel Castro's repressive agents who were on her trail for her opposition to Fidel Castro.
Bumpy rides, or not, In 1976, E.T. Simon, after twelve years of part time studies, with in-between times-off for parenting, obtained her B.A. in English with a Major in Literature and a double minor in Psychology and Philosophy. In 1985 she obtained her Master's Degree in Counseling and in 1987 her License in Marriage and Family Therapy.
Her quest to pursue a MFA in Creative Writing was derailed when a stuffed shirt Chaucer Literature Professor graded her paper on The Prioress Tale short of the A she needed to establish her credentials in the MFA Creative Writing Program, even while receiving the support of the Academic Dean who told her with a certain urgency, "don't stop writing. You'll find a way."
Prior to pursuing her graduate studies in counseling, Ms. E.T. Simon joined a Creative Writing Group where she honed in on some of the art and craft of writing and had the pleasure of attending poetry readings by Tess Gallagher, Denise Levertov, Rutabaga Rose and others.
Following her 1985 graduation, Ms. E.T. Simon proceeded to work as a counselor/family therapist until 1998 when, following surgery, she became a near recluse and has remained a near recluse for the last twelve years or so.
It was during those years that she worked as a counselor/family therapist that Ms. E.T. Simon learned that grief is a powerful agent which often contributes to the derailing of families; that human hearts can bury grief for generations and generations with the grief popping up unexpectedly as a symptom anywhere, sometimes even in someone else further along in the generations.
Ms. E.T. Simon also learned that when careful unearthing of buried grief happens and a person is enabled to truly grieve the pain of a loss they have been holding on to for years, then rebalancing of the derailment takes place and true healing occurs.

Writing is a lifelong love of E.T. Simon's, and whether she kept her writings buried in dusty drawers, or shared them with university professors, writers' groups, editors, or published them, the writer's flame burns undying in her. The flame of truth also burns in her along with the need to stand up for the underdog, of which, today, she finds herself to be one. This blended well in her throughout her years of computer activism for peace and social justice.

E.T. Simon's articles have been published under the name of TERESA SIMON-NOBLE, the pen name of ELENA DUMAS; and at times, under the additional pen name of SKYAGUNSTA, or SKYAGUNSTA PICKENS, both of which are a direct reference to her great-great-grandfather Brigadier General Andrew Pickens who was named "Skyagunsta," by Native Americans who came to appreciate him as a man of conscience. Please also know that whether the articles have been signed with one name, or another; with a pen name, or another, the writings have always come straight from my heart, my perception, and my core values.
In other words, it has always been me, and only me, writing the articles.