DEAR ABBY: After reading the letter in your column from Mr. Beard of Sacramento, I'm compelled to write in support of his assertion that we CAN all get along. While far from home, Mr. Beard, a black man, was loaned a hearing aid by a white audiologist named Mr. Potter.
When I was a child growing up in the South, my father ran a medical clinic. He worked long hours serving the health needs of a small community. He performed and assisted with many surgeries on black and white people, Jews and Gentiles. He used to tell me, "All people are pretty much the same color on the inside, and THAT'S where you need to look." It was excellent advice.
Mr. Potter, the audiologist, must be one of those who "sees" what is important in all of us, and trusts that which he cannot see.
I agree with Mr. Beard. We can all get along if we look for those things we have in common, and respect what makes us different. -- KAREN LAWRENCE, NAPA, CALIF.
DEAR KAREN: I think you put it very well. It is important to the future of our country that when we look our neighbors in the face, we dwell not on their color, but their humanity, and judge them not by their appearance, but by their character.