Photoshoppers Have Feelings Too
People often ask me to make flyers for their school clubs or events, and I always agree to it because it’s never a trouble for me. All I’m doing is messing around on Photoshop for a couple of hours.
Most people who see the crowded bulletin boards in passing barely notice one posting out of 20 that are up there, and that’s why I like to work extra hard on my flyers. I want them to stand out- I want people to see them.
Recently, I made a flyer for the College Republicans and College Democrats debate. You may have seen it around. I thought it was pretty cool-looking and I always love seeing my flyers hung up around campus, so when I saw those red and blue posters around school I was feeling happy about it. But then I saw one hanging up that was completely torn on only one side of the poster, clearly a representation of someone’s opposing views.
This article is really not about politics, so I’m not going to specify which side of the flyer was ripped up.
If you know me, you know I’m a generally easy-going person who doesn’t get annoyed very easily, so I just kind of shrugged it off and went on with my day. However, I noticed that many more of my flyers were ripped or even thrown out. And I couldn’t help but feel bothered by it. Not only because I had worked hard on making the flyers, but also because the College Republicans and the College Democrats are two of the most mature and professional clubs on campus, so it was just sad to see someone reacting so immaturely.
This seems to be a popular problem nowadays, where people are so focused on one idea that they don’t realize there are other things going on. If you care a lot about politics, good for you. Go be a political science major and change the world. However, if your views are so strong that it’s hard for you to take a step back and realize that I’m just the poster-maker and I’m not trying to cramp your style, then maybe you should reconsider your values.
I thought about giving the benefit of the doubt, you know, because someone obviously could have just accidentally punched the wall with a fist full of knives. Maybe someone just had a lot of feelings bottled up and needed to take it out somehow, and the closest thing to them was a political debate flyer. Who knows? (I do)
The point of this article is to try and open people’s eyes to the greater picture, which is that everything you lay your eyes on, especially on the bulletin boards, is a product of someone else’s time and effort. A wise man once said, “your ego is trying to kill you,” and it remains true to this day. So please don’t let your ego get the better of you. Just walk around and take things in before spitting things out.
