“The staff at Faith Farm served as surrogate parents for me, so when I complained of a nagging toothache, a female member took me to the dentist. After an exam, the dentist told the staff member I needed a root canal. The two of them walked around the corner, and I overheard the staff member tell the dentist that I was living in a group home. 'Oh,' the dentist responded. 'He’s one of them?' 'Yes, sir. We don’t have dental insurance for our residents.' 'Then I’ll have to pull the tooth,' the dentist replied. His words ripped through me, not because I was afraid of getting a tooth pulled. The real pain came from the knowledge that he didn’t regard me as a normal kid with a toothache. The Novocain numbed the pain when he pulled my tooth, but it did nothing to numb the pain in my heart.”
(Wayne, 2015)
This is an excerpt from a book passed on to me from a lifelong family friend who knows my heart for adoptive and foster youth. It resonated with parts of my heart as a dentist, and it stimulated reflection on my experience in my professional community.
What are the dentist’s thoughts? What are the child’s thoughts?
Read Luke 10:25-37. Verse 29: Who is your neighbor? Verse 37: What do you do?
The child later wrote about this experience. What did the dentist later do about this experience?
Reference
Wayne, J. (2015). Walk to beautiful: The power of love and a homeless kid who found the way. Thomas Nelson.
