Recently my email Inbox told me I had received a note from one
of my heroes in the dental profession, Dr. Ted Croll. Dr. Croll has practiced Pediatric Dentistry
in Doylestown, PA since 1978, and
he has shared his ideas, inventions, wisdom, and wit with us here at Practicon
since the 1990s. Ted has written
innumerable articles on dental treatment, research, products, and other dental
topics, published in dental journals around the globe. He has published seven books, several of
which Practicon distributes, and holds 19 U.S. patents, several awarded for
products Practicon carries. In short, we
admire his work, his dedication to dentistry, his friendship, his energy, his
effervescent personality, and his willingness to show others what he calls “his
old softie side.”
The email he sent was a piece found by his “old softie side”
and was entitled Change Your Thinking. By the time I finished reading it, I had
decided that with Ted’s permission as contributor, I would share it with you,
our readers, in hopes it will remind you, as it did me, never to forget that
there is “tremendous happiness in making others happy, despite our own
situations.”
Change Your Thinking
Two men, both
seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room.
One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to
help drain the fluid from his lungs. His
bed was next to the room’s only window.
The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back.
They talked for
hours on end. They spoke of their wives
and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in military service,
where they had been on vacation…
Every afternoon
when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by
describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window. The man in the other bed began to live for
those one hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all
the activity and color of the world outside.
The window
overlooked a park with a lovely lake.
Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model
boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm
amidst flowers of every color and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen
in the distance.
As the man by the
window described all this in exquisite detail, the man on the other side of the
room would close his eyes and imagine this picturesque scene.
One warm afternoon,
the man by the window described a parade passing by. Although the other man could not hear the
band, he could see it in his mind’s eye as the gentleman by the window
portrayed it with descriptive words.
Days, weeks, and
months passed. One morning the day nurse
arrived to bring water for their baths only to find the lifeless body of the
man by the window who had died peacefully in his sleep. She was saddened and called the hospital attendants
for help.
As soon as it
seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the
window. The nurse was happy to make the
switch, and after seeing that he was comfortable, she left him alone. Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on
one elbow to take his first look at the real world outside. He strained, slowly turning to look out the
window beside the bed.
It faced a blank
wall!
Upon her return,
the man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate to
describe such wonderful things outside the window. The nurse responded that the man was totally
blind and could not even see the wall.
She said, “Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you.”
Epilogue: There is tremendous happiness in making
others happy, despite our own situation.
Shared grief is half the sorrow, but happiness when shared, is
doubled. If you want to feel rich, just
count all the things you have that money can’t buy. Today is a gift; that is why it is called The
Present.
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