I’m on a dating site where, as part of your profile, you get to state what you’re looking for in a person you would like to date. Most people give an age range, perhaps a preferred body type, location and things like that. One’s gender preference is stated in the filters that you use when you sign up on the site, so there’s no need to state that. Many people state their political or cultural preferences along with desired education level. One profile that I encountered specified a “Professional with a graduate degree’. Fair enough, but it triggered one of my old grievances. Describing some people or jobs as “Professionals”. Of course we all know what that means, Doctors, Lawyers, perhaps Architects and Engineers, there aren’t really any specifics that go with the term. 

My problem with the description is, if they’re professional, what does that make me? The antonym of “Professional” is “Amateur”. By the way, for all the Professionals reading this, “Antonym” is a word with the opposite meaning. So, by definition, I’m an amateur. So are guys that assemble the space shuttle, and who can diagnose what’s wrong with your Lamborghini and fix it. A guy who can build a house from a pile of lumber is also, I suppose, an Amateur.  What about the person who can connect a wire to a pole, run it to your house and set up a network of wires, circuit breakers and receptacles so that all your equipment works. Even Professionals need a refrigerator. 

if, and when, the shit hits the fan I’d rather be in company of a person who can use their mind and their hands and tools to make stuff work. I’m sure a lawyer could sue whoever was responsible for said shit hitting the fan but it would be years before the Fan-Shitter would be required to fix the situation. Even then, he’d have to hire an Amateur  to actually rectify the problem. 

How about a Doctor then? Surely they would be a good choice for said Fan Shiting….Well, maybe. a good old “Country Doctor” would help you out there, but too many of the Doctors in this era don’t know how to do much besides prescribe a pill, or pills to take. I mean, they don’t actually have  the pills that would remedy the Fan Shit but they could write the names of the pills on a piece of paper as long as the Amateur Electrician made sure that his or her computer worked so they could look them up and print them out. 

Too many of us Amateurs have spent too much time learning our crafts and acquiring the tools, muscle and savvy to actually make stuff happen to appreciate the dismissive “Blue Collar” moniker. Moreover ( that means even more so, for the Professionals reading this) many of us Amateurs know multiple Amateur skills. I’ve never met an electrician that can’t do some plumbing  or a carpenter that can’t do some electrical work. We ALL KNOW the basics of each other’s trades. Try going to your Lawyer to set a broken bone or get some stitches, why don’t ya? They wouldn’t attempt it because another lawyer would sue them. 

To be sure, there are Professionals who can use tools and are capable in many trades and respect the people who do that for a living. Maybe the answer is to eliminate the catch-all term Professional  and simply refer to those folks by what they do, doctor, lawyer, designer, whatever, the way that we, the Blue Collar Class is referred to. Carpenter, electrician, plumber, roofer, policeman, soldier and so on. 

What do you think? Seems fair to me but, then again, what do I know…..I’m not a Professional.