“I’ve never met a farmer or tradesman or homemaker or any other person of “modest circumstances” that is turned off by an educated person who treats then with common decency and respect. “
me neither. even though i’ve got two degrees in computer science, i’ve never had trouble relating to and appreciating folks with less formal education. there are many kinds of education and many kinds of skills and capabilities, and formal education is not the end-all and be-all ...
i appreciate and admire the knowledge and skills people have obtained by doing things and learning on their own, and i love to learn from them about things i don’t know about, ranging from automobile mechanics to farming to self-made businessmen ... i have friends from all walks of life and particularly cherish those that have led different lives than i have, yet are still open to admitting me, a stranger in effect, to their worlds ...
I’m 75, I recall when there were men who were described as, “He can do anything.” That of course is an exaggeration but there were many who, like my now deceased brother in law, seemed to almost be able to do anything. He was an Army enlisted man and after an accident while in the Army he wound up having one knee fused so that he walked like “Chester Goode” on the old Gunsmoke TV show. He was a shipyard welder, worked for the postal service for a time, wound up with three or four different retirement checks and he could weld, do electrical wiring, carpentry, auto mechanics, raised dogs to sell, was an avid salt water fisherman, he seemed to be able to do anything he turned his hand to and do it well. Family and friends realized that he had a problem when he disassembled his zero turn lawnmower to overhaul it and could not reassemble it. It was downhill from there until his death.
His sort seems to be becoming rarer now, replaced by many who apparently, “Can’t do anything.”