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THE HERALD,
Sharon, Pa.,
Thursday, November 11, 1999
http://www.sharon-herald.com
Dear Ann Landers:
Please print
this on Veterans Day. I’m sure every
vet (and his or her family) who sees
it will be proud. — Tom in Tacoma,
Wash.
Dear Tom:
Here it is, with plea-
sure — an extra salute, and richly
deserved. Thank you for asking.
What is a Vet?
You can’t tell a vet just by looking.
He is the cop on the beat who
spent six months in Saudi Arabia
sweating 2 gallons a day making
sure the armored personnel carriers
didn’t run out of fuel.
He is the barroom loudmouth
whose frat-boy behavior is out-
weighed in the cosmic scales by four
hours of unparalleled bravery near
the 38th Parallel in
Korea.
She is the nurse
who fought against
futility in Da Nang
and went to sleep
sobbing every night
for two solid years.
He is the POW
who went away one
person and came
back another.
He is the drill in-
structor who has nev-
er seen combat, but
has saved countless lives by turning
lazy no-accounts into Marines and
teaching them to watch each other’s
backs.
He is the parade-riding legionnaire
who pins on his ribbons and medals
with a prosthetic hand.
He is the white-haired old guy
bagging groceries at the supermar-
ket, aggravatingly slow, who helped
liberate a Nazi death camp.
A vet is an ordinary and extraordi-
nary human being — someone who
offered his life’s most vital years in
the service of his country. He is a
soldier and a savior and a sword
against the darkness, and nothing
more than the finest, greatest testi-
mony on behalf of the finest, greatest
nation ever known. We will never be
able to repay the debt of gratitude
we owe.
Dear readers:
Here is a provoca-
tive piece by a clergyman who is also
a member of the Marine Corps:
Veterans Day
by Father Denis Edward O’Brien
It is the soldier, not the reporter,
Who has given us freedom of the
press.
It is the soldier, not the poet,
Who has given us freedom of
speech.
It is the soldier, not the campus
organizer,
Who has given us the freedom to
demonstrate.
It is the soldier who salutes the
flag,
Who serves beneath the flag, and
whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who allows the protester to burn
the flag.
Dear Ann Landers:
I am a neigh-
bor who is aware of the following sit-
uation: A 12-year-old, seventh-grade
girl has started to enjoy the attention
of a boy in her class. At first, they
had hourlong talks on the phone. Af-
ter a few weeks, her parents began
to treat him as if he were one of her
girlfriends. He is invited to spend Fri-
day or Saturday night with them.
The bedroom he stays in is next to
hers. Her parents’ bedroom is on the
other side of the house.
Her parents did not know this boy
nor his family until this relationship
started a few weeks ago. Any advice?
— Concerned Friend, No City, No
State
Dear Concerned Friend:
The ad-
vice is for you: MYOB.
Feeling pressured to have sex? How
well-informed are you? Write for Ann
Landers’ booklet “Sex and the Teenag-
er.” Send a self-addressed, long, busi-
ness-size envelope and a check or mon-
ey order for $3.75 (this includes
postage and handling) to: Teens, c/o
Ann Landers, Box 11562, Chicago, IL
60611-0562. To find out more about
Ann Landers and read her past
columns, visit the Creators Syndicate
Web page at
www.creators.com
Creators Syndicate Inc.
Readers salute brave men and women who served their country
Dear Anne and Nan:
We need a
question answered about the song in
a Chevrolet commercial. A friend of
mine and I are up in age, and we say
the song has a line in it that says,
“When I grow up” right before “Oh,
like a rock.” Our wives tell us we
need hearing aids and that the song
doesn’t have that first set of words. I
have heard it sung, and it includes
the words, “When I grow up, I was
strong as I could be./When I grow
up, nothing bothers me.” Who sings
this song? — Hank B., Cheburne,
Texas
Dear Hank:
Both
the lyrics and mu-
sic to “Like a Rock”
were written by
Bob Seger. He per-
forms it with the
Silver Bullet Band.
We think your
wives might be
right, because the
words you mention
don’t exist in the
song as Seger
wrote it. There is a
verse in the song
that is similar to the last quote you
gave. It goes like this:
“Like a rock, I was strong as I
could be
Like a rock, nothin’ ever got to me
Like a rock, I was something to
see
Like a rock.”
Dear Anne and Nan:
My wife
loves to make chocolates, and at pre-
sent it is impossible for her to do so
— she cannot find the fondue to
make them. There doesn’t seem to
be any around here. When we were
in Connecticut, it was simple to find,
but then we moved back to Gardner,
Mass. You are our last chance to
find them. Traveling back to Con-
necticut would be difficult, as the
wife has arthritis. She usually gives
away these candies at holiday times.
We would be very grateful for your
help. — Leo Melanson, Gardner,
Mass.
Dear Leo:
We think you may be
looking for “fondant” rather than
“fondue.” Fondant is used for hand-
rolled cream centers in candy. You
can buy it ready-made through the
Sweet Celebrations catalog. This ter-
rific catalog is chock-full of every sort
of candymaking supply you can
imagine, and a lot you can’t! Our
suggestion is to call Sweet Celebra-
tions at (800) 328-6722 and ask for a
catalog.
Write to “Ask Anne & Nan” at Box
240, Hartland, VT 05048. Due to the
volume of mail, personal replies can-
not be provided.
Bob Seger
wrote Chevy’s
‘Like a Rock’
Ann
Landers
Anne B.
Adams and
Nancy Nash-
Cummings
Ask Anne
and Nan