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I often think that we humans living at the arse end of the 20th Century and the face end (?) of the 21st (does that mean the beginning of the 21st Century is kissing the 20th arse?) are the luckiest people who have or will ever live. Maybe I am just talking about the first world here. But that’s where I live. Certainly we don’t have to endure the privations and sufferings of the people who lived here in the past and I fear that the people of the future (if any) might return to a less cushy life. It would be great to think that my child will have a more comfortable and safer life than I have had, but I am not sure that that is guaranteed.
But today as I lay in a dentist’s chair having a cracked old filling removed in preparation for a new one (I am getting some kind of moulded metal cap instead of a filling) I considered all the poor saps through history who had to endure surgery and dentistry with no anaesthetic. The dentist apologised to me for the barely perceptible stab of the needle that would numb my face as if I was the bravest man in the world. But from there on in, aside from the odd echo of a twinge of pain I coped with a man drilling into my tooth (and removing some decayed material) with ease. Because it was pain free to all intents and purposes. There would be some discomfort at having my mouth prodded and probed and having to take a mould of my teeth and later it would ache a little bit. But consider the poor fuckers who had their teeth pulled out or kidney stones removed or surgery performed with nothing but a slosh of brandy and something to bite down on. I have an excellent chance of getting through my allotted span without ever experiencing any kind of serious pain. Or if I do, only for a minimal amount of time.
People in the past put themselves through excruciating agony, because they realised that if they didn’t they would have to put up with constant pain for life. Would I be prepared to make that kind of decision? I have had such a lucky and cushy life. There’s no guarantee that future generations will be as lucky as me.
Still when the dentist told me that the new decay was very close to the root of the tooth and that that might mean I require root canal on this tooth I did wonder if I might not just favour the old system of just ripping out a troublesome gnasher. This stupid fucking tooth has already had two expensive fillings put in it in the last decade (the first one fell out after a year or so, the second cracked after six years) and now has a third expensive procedure being carried out with the promise of another. I could have just paid a mechanic with some pliers a fiver to yank the prick out and saved myself (at least) a grand. I might just smash myself in the face with a brick to save money in the future now. I am going to be a dad - I can’t waste my money on fripperies or vanities (and I saved £300 by going for a metal tooth rather than a porcelain one, mainly because I thought I would look more like a robot with a metal one) .
But I hope I die before the Apocalypse. Mainly because the standard of dentistry is going to drop off dramatically.
As it is I have to wait a fortnight for my Terminator metal tooth to arrive, so there will be more painless drilling to come and more time to contemplate the advances in science that have made our lives so empty of experience. The un-pain filled life is not worth living. Thank goodness the modern world has managed to up the emotional turmoil.
I got in
another frame of Me1 Vs Me2 Snooker tonight whilst my wife was out for dinner. I hoped that Me2’s flirtation with far right politics might have been merely a publicity stunt, but he seems intent on sticking with it and I feel genuinely upset about it. But it’s not like I can stop him saying what he wants. Part of me thinks he should be banned from the game, but another part of me (and I come in many parts) does not want to live in a world where people can’t express their opinions, no matter how offensive they are to others (or indeed themselves). It cast a horrible cloud over the frame for me. I was just starting to really like Me2. Had I not met my wife I might still be a version of him. But perhaps if I hadn’t met my wife I would have become the shrivelled and small minded idiot that he (at least temporarily) seems to have become. After a couple of frames of surprisingly skilful snooker, tonight the players were back to their usual woeful form, which is at least something.
