DEAR ABBY: I cannot forget a letter you had in your column some time ago. It was written by a person who didn't know what to say when he (or she) was asked what he did for a living. From the tone of the letter I concluded that the person was working for minimum wage, or doing some kind of manual labor of which he was somewhat ashamed.
This, coupled with the following remark a school principal made to my son, prompts this letter. My son was having problems in school, so his teacher took him to the principal. In talking to my son, the principal asked, "Do you want to be a ditchdigger all your life?" My son replied, "What's wrong with being a ditchdigger? It's honest work."The principal called me to school because of my son's "smart mouth." When the principal repeated what my son had said, I responded: "Nothing was wrong with what he said. If there were no ditchdiggers we'd be up to our necks in water and filth." I also told the principal he was dead wrong to demean ditchdiggers, and repeated what my son had said. "It's honest work."
Then I went on to say: "I am a professional who works with professionals, and I get really steamed when my co-workers look down on people who are minimum-wage laborers. If no one picked up the garbage, cleaned the septic tanks, laid sewage pipes, picked the crops and worked in the fields, where would we be? This country was founded on hard work - most of it manual labor. Pride comes in doing the best you can with whatever talents you possess."
I will close with a comment I heard a long time ago. I don't know the author, but it goes something like this:
"Use what talents you possess, for the woods would be silent if no birds sang except the best." - C.V.J.
DEAR C.V.J.: Hear, hear!
DEAR ABBY: This is in response to people who use a little imagination when leaving a recorded telephone message:
Three years ago, when my husband and I decided to have an answering machine, I wrote this little poem that has been on our machine ever since. My husband and I recorded it, and this is it:
Me: "This is Kristal."
Him: "This is Scott."
Me: "Maybe we're home."
Him: "Maybe we're not."
Me: "Leave a message, short and sweet."
Him: "And don't forget to wait for the beep." - KRISTAL AND SCOTT DANIELS, EMMAUS, PENN.
DEAR KRISTAL AND SCOTT: Very clever. Many readers sent in their imaginative messages. How's this for a one-of-a-kind message:
"Hello! You have reached the home of Vincent Van Gogh. Sorry we can't come to the phone right now, but if you care to leave a message, please make it brief - and please don't talk my remaining ear off. Wait for the beep."
DEAR ABBY: In April, you had a whole column on remedies for bad breath. Since I had a problem with it, too, I asked my dentist - who, of course, works close to his patients' faces - how he managed. He told me to use acidophilus or megadophilus capsules - both are available in health food stores. This increases the "good" bacteria in one's intestines and should solve the problem.
According to my dentist, most bad breath problems do not originate in the mouth. - HELEN COX, SAN DIEGO
DEAR HELEN: Most dentists agree with your dentist. Bad breath can also be the result of chronic sinus infections. That's why breath mints, chewing gum and constant gargling and rinsing with a mouthwash offer only a temporary fix - not a permanent cure. However, a temporary fix is better than nothing.
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