Even a lecture on flossing is a delight

The situation has been so numbing that a trip to the dentist could become the highlight of your week. Don’t chuckle. It’s true. My first 2021 dental cleaning occurred last week in San Mateo.

I never realized how happy I could be when my tender gums were being ministered to be a gentle hygienist. Sure, there was a bit of very minimal pain (and urges to brush more effectively). And, yes, gaining access to the locked and secured dentist’s office (a veritable vault) was not entirely seamless.

But the sheer pleasure of being in the actual presence of someone outside the immediate family unit was delightful. It certainly beat the heck out of another morning stuck at home looking at a computer screen.

The interlude commenced with X-rays. Terrific. It had been awhile for that procedure. Even modest discomfort was welcome. X-rays. Yippee. The more, the merrier. Then came the cleaning.

As the hygienist worked her magic, she tried some small talk between scrapes and probes. Desperate for human contact, I tried to respond even with a suction tube stuck in my mouth.

“Have you been able to get out much lately?” she asked politely.

“No, my life has become about as interesting as a PBS pledge plea,” I answered, garbling the word “interesting” as she discovered another challenging mound of plaque hidden behind an incisor.

And so it went for the next 20 or so minutes the procedure took to conclude. I almost wanted the session to be extended. No such luck. There’s a limit on this stuff.

Drat. I was just starting to settle in, becoming comfy in the padded chair, getting my voice back as it were.

The hygienist gave me a new toothbrush and urged more and better flossing, I thanked her and got another appointment. I can’t wait. The excitement is palpable. Human contact. It’s a wonderful thing.

THE CIVIL WAR AS REPARATIONS?: A significant 160th anniversary is upon us. In April of 1861, the American Civil War began with a secessionist rebel artillery assault on federal Fort Sumter in the Charleston, S.C., harbor.

It is worth pondering the eventual cost in Union lives and blood. The grim struggle that didn’t end until 1865 cost a stunning total of 646,392 federal dead and wounded, according to experts on the subject. That figure continues to resonate today.

At a time when the sensitive issue of reparations for the sin of slavery (and the racist repercussions that followed) is much in the public eye in the Bay Area, California and in the nation at large, it might be appropriate to consider whether the Union sacrifice (including the significant contributions of Black soldiers and sailors) could be viewed in that vein, at least as a starting point.

That thesis comes to mind in spite of the well-documented fact that many, if not most, of the white Union soldiers and sailors did not necessarily believe they were fighting to free the 4 million slaves in the Confederacy early in the war. Preservation of the Union was paramount at first. The issue of freedom for those in bondage became clear and uppermost later on.

Still, as we consider the awful cost of the war in lives and federal dollars (nearly $70 billion in today’s money), it is almost irresistible to speculate that the Union sacrifice was indeed an early form of reparations, a necessary down payment on the shameful past, as it were.

The reparations debate is just beginning to pick up steam. Maybe the Civil War and its indelible implications should be part of the discussion. We’ll see.

Your thoughts? Email them to the address below.

You can get in touch with John Horgan by email at johnhorganmedia@gmail.com.