PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS
★★★★★ (5 out of 5)
Hello, and welcome to my week-by-week review of everything in the world. Today I am reviewing Public Service Announcements.
There are a lot of things I don’t always know I should be doing, and public service announcements (or PSAs) help to inform me. While listening to the radio the other day, I heard a PSA from a man, Patrick Dempsey (fortunately, because I’m always more attentive to the words of celebrities than I am ordinary people), warning me of the dangers of plastic bags. He informed me not to place them over the heads of small children, thus preventing suffocation. This is good to know because I don’t like it when children die. I only wish I had heard this PSA before my nephew’s birthday party last April. He lived a short 27 years.
Sometimes, when I’m watching TV, I find myself annoyed by the show and wish it would hurry up so I can learn something new from a PSA. On occasion a PSA will be about something I already know, but that makes it no less enjoyable. It reminds me that other people may be unaware, so I’ll make an extra effort to work the subject into conversation. I’ll tell my barber, “Please give me a trim and if you’re suffering from an eating disorder you should seek help.” Or I’ll pull up next to a motorist at a traffic light and ask, “Where are you off to today? I’m going exactly where my turn signal indicates.” Then I’ll point to the turn signal which is blinking in the direction I’m traveling.
There’s nothing I can think of that’s more helpful than a PSA. Nothing. It’s a fantastic use of time and resources from which everyone can benefit. Some might argue the thousands of dollars it takes to create one could be better used if donated to any number of charities. And when I think of an argument for that I’ll update this post. For now I have to go with my gut on this.
There is one PSA I’ve never seen and I hope somebody makes it. It would indicate to people the importance of not swallowing unmarked pills one finds in an abandoned car. I’ve seen too many people get stomach aches from that.
Please join me next week when I’ll be reviewing the year 2008.
