Write Program Sponsors To Stop
Dear Ann Landers: I become upset when I turn on the TV and see movies advertised as having “adult language.” Whoever intended the words “adult language” to mean gutter talk?
I am an adult and am insulted by this. I’m not one of those holier-than-thou types. I’m just an average, respectable person. My family has never heard a word of gutter talk from me, nor I from them.
The worst part of this phrase is that it sends the wrong message to our young people who want to grow up fast and think they will be considered adults if they master the art of gutter talk. They think this is what adults are supposed to sound like.
If we love our children, let’s get together and stop TV and movies from using this phrase. We must write our congresspeople and say, “Enough is enough.” Free speech is good, but insulting us is not. Let’s not allow the TV and movie industry to brainwash our children into thinking it’s hip to use gutter talk. - L.D. in Lodi, N.J.
Dear Lodi: Forget about congresspeople. Write to the sponsors. Customer clout is a most effective weapon.
Dear Ann Landers: You printed a letter from a third-grade teacher commenting about students with chicken pox who are sent to school by their parents. Please implore parents to have their children immunized against chicken pox. It is NOT just a childhood disease. I had it as a child, and now, I am suffering again. Here’s why:
The pox disappear, but the virus, which is a form of herpes, can settle in your spine and remain dormant until something sets it off. In my case, I twisted my back and had pain in my left hip and leg. Then, I broke out with shingles, another form of herpes, on my left leg. It affected my knee, which for several years required me to walk as if I had an artificial leg. If I didn’t lock my knee before taking a step, I might find myself on the floor.
I was lucky because my shingles didn’t cause a lot of pain. Most of the people I know who had chicken pox as children and developed shingles in later years were in terrible pain. I still have scars on my leg, and it has been over five years.
Tell your readers to get their children vaccinated now. - Grand Terrace, Calif.
Dear Grand Terrace: Your letter is far more effective than anything I might say. Readers, please take note. The letter you just read may be the most important thing you’ve read in years.
Dear Ann Landers: Thirty years ago, my husband and I and our eight children moved from a small town in Pennsylvania to a much larger city in New Jersey. Just when we arrived, the employees at my husband’s company went on strike.
When my husband went to our new landlord, Mr. Kirby, to pay our rent, the landlord told him he didn’t need to make the payment. Mr. Kirby had heard the company was on strike. What a comfort it was to meet such a caring person and a stranger at that!
Recently, our daughter, who is a nurse for an eye surgeon, phoned us and said, “Mom, you’ll never guess who I had for a patient!” It was Mr. Kirby, who is now 89 and was very nervous about his surgery. She told him who she was, and he remembered our family. Needless to say, she gave him special attention, and I’m sure she was a comfort to him. When he left, he told her he had been treated like a king.
Isn’t it amazing how God took a small act of kindness and arranged to have it paid back after so many years? - A.B., Plant City, Fla.
Dear A.B.: The Bible says “cast your bread upon the waters,” and in this case, Mr. Kirby got back caviar sandwiches. How lovely!