Promotion or Warning

A citizen took objection to a reporter’s photo of a young teenage boy jumping off a bridge into a shallow boulder-filled river. In Saturday Evening Post fashion, with one foot on the handrail and the other in mid-air, the photo captures the young man directly above the warning sign on the handrail, “NO JUMPING OR THROWING OBJECTS FROM BRIDGE.” The citizen thought the photo prompted and encouraged summertime fun that was dangerous behavior for children. I, on the other hand, viewed the photo as a call to action for parents who failed to teach their children basic safety skills and to follow the rules.  The Psalmist wrote, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you. Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you” (Psalm 32:8-8 NIV).