# What is the profession that had the most positive impact on your life? **URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-profession-that-had-the-most-positive-impact-on-your-life/442195 **Category:** In My Humble Opinion **Created:** [March 21, 2008, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-profession-that-had-the-most-positive-impact-on-your-life/442195 "2008-03-21T05:17:08Z") **Posts on this page:** 11 **Page:** 2
### Author: ![fessie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie) #### Post date: [March 21, 2008, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-profession-that-had-the-most-positive-impact-on-your-life/442195/21 "2008-03-21T20:22:52Z")
Music teachers. ---
### Author: ![Gozu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gozu/32/6615_2.png) [@Gozu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu) #### Post date: [March 21, 2008, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-profession-that-had-the-most-positive-impact-on-your-life/442195/22 "2008-03-21T21:57:05Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] Marijuana dealers. [/QUOTE] You made me laugh. ---
### Author: ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver) #### Post date: [March 22, 2008, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-profession-that-had-the-most-positive-impact-on-your-life/442195/23 "2008-03-22T01:46:49Z")
Medical. I’d have not made it out of early childhood, otherwise. ---
### Author: ![pasunejen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/58956e/32.png) [@pasunejen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pasunejen) #### Post date: [March 22, 2008, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-profession-that-had-the-most-positive-impact-on-your-life/442195/24 "2008-03-22T03:03:11Z")
Doctors, specifically cardiologists and cardiac surgeons. I wouldn’t be dead without them _yet_, but I would have been unlikely to make it past my mid-30s without intervention, and would have been sick all the while. ---
### Author: ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537) #### Post date: [March 22, 2008, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-profession-that-had-the-most-positive-impact-on-your-life/442195/25 "2008-03-22T03:24:00Z")
[QUOTE=bathsheba] Lawyers. [/QUOTE] [Lionel Hutz]Could you IMAGINE a world without lawyers (shudders)[/Lionel Hutz] I imagine it would be musicians and brewers. At least in a non-utilitarian sort of way. ---
### Author: ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan) #### Post date: [March 22, 2008, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-profession-that-had-the-most-positive-impact-on-your-life/442195/26 "2008-03-22T03:34:13Z")
Teachers. ---
### Author: ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ) #### Post date: [March 22, 2008, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-profession-that-had-the-most-positive-impact-on-your-life/442195/27 "2008-03-22T04:48:02Z")
An **optometrist** saved my life once. He noticed something wrong inside my head that my pediatrician missed. When it comes to non-life saving but life-enriching professions, **teachers** for sure. I loved school. ---
### Author: ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45) #### Post date: [March 22, 2008, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-profession-that-had-the-most-positive-impact-on-your-life/442195/28 "2008-03-22T05:37:46Z")
Composers, authors and artists. ---
### Author: ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt) #### Post date: [March 22, 2008, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-profession-that-had-the-most-positive-impact-on-your-life/442195/29 "2008-03-22T15:09:07Z")
After the medical profession and teachers (whom we all are impacted by in a positive way), I’m going to cite Civil Engineering. Partly because of my Dad and my career, but also because of the positive impact of gains in potable water, sanitary disposal of sewage, and capital improvements which have increased everyones’ standard of living through improvements in infrastructure. ---
### Author: ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows) #### Post date: [March 22, 2008, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-profession-that-had-the-most-positive-impact-on-your-life/442195/30 "2008-03-22T15:24:16Z")
Teachers, for teaching me to read and to learn. Writers next, followed by artists. ---
### Author: ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth) #### Post date: [March 22, 2008, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-profession-that-had-the-most-positive-impact-on-your-life/442195/31 "2008-03-22T19:15:11Z")
I’m going to have to go with pharmaceutical researchers. Saved my life…at least twice, I’d say, and relieved pain, suffering, and crippling discomfort innumerable other times. Followed by software designers, then sci-fi novelists, probably. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-profession-that-had-the-most-positive-impact-on-your-life/442195.md?page=1)