Playing Doctor

Right away they all look smarter than me.

I just returned from seeing my doctor for a follow-up appointment having to do with my blood pressure medications and whether or not they are causing me to faint, randomly. While I like this doctor, her whole "look" was a bit disconcerting. She was wearing flip-flops which allowed me to see her purple-painted toenails. She wore a madras, knee-length skirt, a plain sleeveless t-shirt and dangling silver earrings. Her long straight hair fell below her shoulders in a no-nonsense style. She looked fine for a woman in her early forties on a hot summer day in Maine. But when she used the stethoscope to listen to my heart, I had to suppress a laugh: She reminded me of a little girl playing doctor.

It's true that the older I get, the younger my doctors seem. But back in the days when they all wore white lab coats over their street clothes, they might not have been better doctors but at least they looked the part. Now they don't, and it's harder to muster up the same respect and blind belief in what they say. I'm just saying, would it kill them to put on that white lab coat?