This morning we had a guest who came back from fly fishing with a hook in the back of his scalp. He wanted to know if I would get it out. He said I may need a sharp knife, wire cutters and needle nose pliers. I suggested he many want to consider stopping by the urgent care center on his way back to the valley. He was not interested in that option. I called our local fire department and asked if they could extricate it....nope, not authorized to do that...suggested he go to the ER. He then wanted me to give his wife the instruments and have her do it. She did not look too keen on that idea. Our guest was in sales and he is very good at it. I found myself gathering all the mentioned tools plus some antiseptic. One of the three barbs was hooked in the scalp. I cut off the two barbs sticking out with the wire cutters. Feeling the curved end of the barb in his scalp, I took the needle nose pliers and with a quick twist, pushed the barb through the scalp...ouch....then cut off the barb with the wire cutters and was hoping to easily pull it back and out. Unfortunately, it did not want to slide out and after fiddling around trying to get it out he told me to just give it a good jerk. We both took a big breath and jerk...it was out. I doused the area with antiseptic and all was good. His wife gave me a huge, grateful hug. We chatted for awhile and they headed off to do some more fishing on their way home.
After they left, I was thinking about the scope of hospitality and realized the word hospital appeared to be the root, so I had to investigate:
The word "hospital" comes from the Latin hospes, signifying a stranger or foreigner, hence a guest. Another noun derived from this, hospitium came to signify hospitality, that is the relation between guest and shelterer, hospitality, friendliness, and hospitable reception.
I am happy to provide hospitality but I hope not to have too many instances where we turn into a hospital.
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