The Doctor Can See You Now

So, I was in to see my doctor again last week, and I happened to have my Hip book with me, this is how that conversation went:

“What are you reading,” asked my doctor, sounding actually interested not just polite conversation before we got to the other stuff.

“Oh, just something I’m reading in one of my English classes, the history of hip,” I said not wanting to really talk about my homework.

“Hip, do you mean like in a hip,” as she points to the outside of her body, just below the waste. I chuckled thinking this is exactly the answer you would expect from ones doctor.

“No, like hip, cool, popular culture,” I answered.

“So what about it,” she asks.

I really didn’t feel like going into details, it has taken me weeks to understand what the hell is going on in this class, and I kept thinking, don’t these doctors charge by the hour. Pre coffee, and trying not to get annoyed, wishing I wouldn’t have brought the book with me, even though we all know that waiting rooms have nothing good to read, I said:

“You know, like what makes something hip, identity, knowledge, language, the perpetual present,” I said hoping she would find the subject uninteresting compared to boils, diarrhea, and puss. Her answered surprised me.

“I definitely think that hip is like the perpetual present, hip is what is in right now. You know what is hip right now, rude people and selfishness. These are the attitudes people have adopted because it is cool to act this way. That is just my opinion.”

My doctor, a college graduate, with a PhD in family medicine, she thinks it is hip to act like an ass. Is this why we have so much road rage, why people continue to text and talk on their cell phones even though they know the dangers. This is why we get mad when we don’t get our way, how we think the world belongs to us, and we just allow others to live in our space. If she is right, I hope this fad dies out with beehive hair dos, parachute pants, and Justin Bieber (he has had his fifteen minutes, right?). Being the perpetual optimist I hope that the next stage of hip is compassion and kindness (okay, I know, yuck, but you know what I’m saying, right?).