Humility reigns

I was particularly interested in David D. Newsom's ``Foreign Service: courage and diplomacy'' (April 1). I wish he had added the word humility. I have always felt that far too often the members of our diplomatic corps feel ill at ease rubbing shoulders with the so-called man in the street, that they find it much easier and safer in a foreign country to associate with persons of their own social station, the inevitable result of which is a one-sided, often distorted, picture of the economic, social, and political conditions of the host country. Our State Department needs more people like Chester Bowles, women as well as men who are willing to sit and converse in the gutter if necessary. William Lyman Portsmouth, N.H.