Tuesday 14 May 2019

Maybe a Funny Story! But who Nose?

   When I was a young physician,,  newly located in Regina, Saskatchewan, I was overwhelmed by the welcome that I received when I first arrived. People went out of their way to welcome us.  Some of the friends I made in those days remained my close friends until they passed on to the happier hunting grounds.  There are many stories about those days, some funny and some not  so  funny.  I write about them from time to  time.  I think is a funny one.
   When I walked into my examining room in the Department of Family Medicine at the new Plains Health Centre in Regina, Saskatchewan, I found a 'middle-aged' male looking at an article in Time magazine.  It so happened he was looking at a picture of a woman just one year older than me - Sophia Loren.  At that time, I thought that Sophia was the most beautiful woman in the world.  Enough said.
   "Ah," said I, "A beautiful woman."
   "Not so beautiful,"  he said sourly.
   I was immediately perturbed at my idol being thus dismissed.
   "What do you mean?" I asked.
   He spread out the "Time " Magazine in front of me.  "Look, she owes all of her success to her Jewish Producer," He pointed at the photograph of her, sitting next to Joseph E Levine.  It is true that Levine played a considerable part in Loren's success story.
   "Oh," said I taken aback. "And what makes you think he's Jewish?"
   "Just look at that Jewish nose?"
   Well, even in those halcyon days, a physician couldn't tell a patient just what he  thought of him.
   "Think that's a Jewish nose, eh!"   I raised my right fore-finger-tip to the tip of my own perfectly shaped nose. "You're wrong, THIS is a Jewish nose!  "
   The patient looked a little embarrassed and I was probably wrong to allow personal feelings to surface.  Too bad!   In retrospect, I think I reacted appropriately and would do the  same again, though probably with disastrous consequences.  I would still bet the bank that he didn't fill the prescription I handed him after I had dealt with  his medical problem.
   I'm glad I lived before the politically correct era !!
   By the way, I have enjoyed great mileage from relating this story at various celebrations!!

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