Apples and Oranges

I know the comparison I’m about to make falls into the “apples” and “oranges” category. But a little bit further thought reveals that if six apples cost $16.20 and six oranges cost $540.00, wouldn’t we stand up and take notice? I believe we would. 

 

The apples represent the $162.00 I was paid for six hours of work with children of all ages at my old school, teaching music in such a way that they feel more confident, skilled and knowledgeable as to how to express themselves, more connected with their classmates, more known and valued and seen and heard and praised by me, their teacher. 

 

The oranges represent what I paid the orthodontist to extract a wisdom tooth for $900 with less than an hour of actual work. In fact, the hour was much more like 10 minutes, a short little chatter, put in the novocaine and the act of extracting the tooth itself literally was a 2-minute procedure. So seeing six patients nets him some $5,400 compared to my $162. What’s wrong with this picture?

 

Naturally, I value his expertise, knowledge, time and help, the years of dental school and student loans and such. But I also have expertise, knowledge, time and help in my field. I’m happy to acknowledge that his orange is seen by society as more valuable than my apple (though also willing to debate that the mind, heart and soul should be valued as much as the body), but the approximately 35 to 1 ratio on the salary scale seems a bit skewed. The four six-hour days of work with children needed to pay for the 10-minute appointment feels at least a little bit off. Does anyone agree?

 

Tomorrow, I’ll see my haircutter, who whisks through my sparsely-haired head in about 10 minutes also. The $20 I’ll pay her is still less than my sub rate of $27 for a full hour of work, but I don’t begrudge it to her. At least our apples and oranges are in the same bin together. 

 

PS Thanks for listening to my little whiny complaint. On the positive side, filling out the pre-appointment form checking which diseases, surgeries, allergies I’ve had in my life made me feel 90 times more grateful than before filling it out. Out of 93 possibilities, all I checked was Covid 19, hepatitis (back in Java in 1979) and an allergic reaction once to penicillin back in the 70’s. I’m sure I’ll be checking more in doctor’s visits to come, but for now, I’m appreciating 90 more ways to be grateful.