Mar 06 2008
Responsibility
Responsibility. When does our responsibility end and another person’s begin?
Incorrect word choice is funny in a cartoon, funny in a story, funny when it affects no one; not so funny, when it causes harm. I would garner a guess this cartoon would be taken by most as funny and in certain moods even I, Ms. Sees the World Differently, would, too.
But I am composed of many guiding forces. Ms. Responsibility Fanatic, even as she sees the humor in the cartoon - and the lesson in wording our sales ads correctly - finds the humor quickly passed over and leaps into the forefront of my mind, where she plants her rather-large-for-a-woman feet, anchors her hands on her slim hips, and speaks repeatedly, as if absolutely determined I hear her. To make it worse, she combines forces with Ms. Safety fanatic to speak as one, Ms. Conscious Personified.
“See what happened? One simple misuse of a few words and the whole neighborhood block could explode into flames that would rival those created by the best laid plans of a practiced arsonist! What if a teenager, lost in his phone conversation about the chick he just passed in the Ferarri, accidentally tossed his cigarette aside, and because his nose had already burned out by all the smoke around him, he had not smelled the gas fumes? It would be YOUR lack of proper wording that caused it!”
“What? Me, I am not the person that littered or used gas to wash my car. Any adult would know not to use gas. Don’t blame it on me. Besides you just insinuated the young man was driving the Ferarri didn’t you? Or was it the chick?”
“See! Exactly what I am talking about. You must express yourself clearly, concisely, with no room left for doubt. That is why you have books and Ms. Grammar to assist you. Now, since you brought it up, let’s talk about making assumptions in your ads. It is not only adults that read them and not all adults have the education that you were afforded, not that you are making use of it.”
I suppose I shouldn’t have assumed I was going to write on responsibility just because I made that my opening sentence either… after all, I won the title of Ms. Most Side Tracked. So you can read between the lines and figure it out for yourself. I know my readers are capable of thought!
“I heard that! Assumption! Last sentence!”
But, my readers, it is a positive assumption!
(Note: Click here to enter the contest or to just peruse his site.) The contest ends tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. CST, but his blog will still be around to peruse. I found info there on sales I read - and the cartoon used as a prompt for the contest is his!
NOTE: I edited this tonight after realizing I had words in here that most would not consider G-rated, I was rushing around to finish before I had to unplug my computer before another wave of lightning came through and forgot to edit it earlier. I apologize.
5 responses so far
Great cartoon!
I agree, Damien, thought he did a great job with it, quite clever.
Fortunately, sloppy wording in advertisements seldom carries the risk depicted in my cartoon. Then again, you never know. Your post makes the case for being careful no matter what the stakes. Thanks for participating in the contest and helping promote it!
You’re, welcome, Brad. My pleasure.
Too late for a contest but an interesting idea for writing prompt.
The idea of the teenager and the cigarette could happen…So let me tell you I came so close to being toast when we will filling our RV with propane, fumes filled the air all around and within seconds of the valves being turned off a group drove through the gas station and a man on the passengers side threw a cigarette AT the tank. So Ms. Safety, be not afraid but do be careful.
b
I am afraid… I never liked to be around the bbq either — should be interesting when we get our RV. Hope yours sells soon.
Me again…oh my gosh, it is a self service gas station. Business, did you get that. Could have worded it differently is an understatement!
b
You made me smile, Barbara.
Oh, heck, Marcia. Before I was done, I felt guilty for laughing!! I wouldn’t have assumed that whoever wrote the ad assumed that everyone knew what it meant. I would have assumed that the writer of the ad didn’t have an education. Kinda like the ads I see at convenience stores across Texas that say “Eat and Get Gas.”
Shelly, you are so funny! That is what makes you the story teller - and not me! I probably would have never gotten the connection to eating and getting gas from the food had you not “put it in my head”. I would have just said, “Oh, there’s a gas station!”