Dentists

  You're led to a back room with a solitary chair. You sit down and something is strapped around your neck. The chair tilts back and a bright light shines in your face, blinding you. It feels like an interrogation--the questions don't stop coming, and there's nothing you can do to stop it. This situation seems like something out of a crime drama: an interrogation full of questions you can't answer. But this is the dentist's office, and you literally can not answer the questions.
   Dentists are the masters of rhetorial questions. Think about it: From the moment you sit in the chair to the end of the cleaning, you are asked questions. You have opinions and comments, but your mouth is so full of foreign material you can't say a word. The phrase has changed from "cat got your tongue" to "dentist got your tongue."
   What did you do for vacation? Have you ever gone to Hawaii? What do you think about those new safety regulations at the airport? They're awful, aren't they? Did you see that new movie that just came out? What did you think of it?
   On and on it goes for more than an hour. Every time you try to speak up, a new dental tool is crammed into your mouth or you nearly drown in the pool of saliva that has been collecting in your mouth. Finally, when the appointment is done and you are free to go home, the last thing your ears want to hear is another question. But, as you walk out the door, the receptionist says "Did everything go well?"
   Most people dread the dentist. For some, they hate the pain. For others, they hate the sounds of the scraping and buzzing and grinding coming from the tools the dentist uses. In actuality, the reason people hate going to the dentist is the non-stop chatter you can do nothing about. Why can't the dentists keep their mouths shut and just play calming music throughout the appointment? It would make the experience better for both dentist and patient.
   What is the point of rhetorical questions? Wait, don't answer that. Why do we ask rhetorial questions if we don't want an answer? Don't answer that either. We live in a society built upon asking but not caring. How many times each day do you say "How are you?" How many times each day do you care what they say?
   Hebrews 3:13 says "But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness." If we don't listen to other people, how are we to help them? Listening means to pay attention to something and take it into account. To listen to others, pay attention to more than just their words and see what you can do.
   The world is too small for everyone to act like dentists. Stop asking rhetorical questions and learn to care. Learn to encourage and help each other in love. The world would be a much better place without the empty and careless questions. Don't you agree?