DEAR ABBY: I thought you'd be interested to know that the story of the wife and mother in a sinking boat was used for courses for Western men who would be doing business in the Far East to show contrasts in the way the two cultures differ.
When presented with the choice of saving the wife or the mother, most men brought up in a Western culture chose to save their wife. The men brought up in an Eastern culture would choose to save their mother -- the rationale being that it was possible to have another wife, but one could never have another mother. -- DIFFERENT STROKES, LAKELAND, FLA.
DEAR DIFFERENT: That's why it's so important for women to know how to paddle their own canoes.