This is my indirect critique of the disgusted truth while I sip coffee. 

As I waited for the bus to come by, a taxi cab passed by the streets in a hurry to beat the rush hour jams. Momentarily I looked at the driver, who seems to be very concentrated yet passionate about his job. He probably has a family, and a decent living standard. I could feel his dedication to raise his children in the hopes that they will succeed in their life, but who knows? I am just making assumptions by a single stare.

Then I felt disgusted towards the driver. I did not know what triggered this filthy emotion, but it was getting stronger as my hands started to shook. Before I could yell derogatory shouts, the cab was already miles away, and I stood on the streets thinking what just happened.

Upon reflection I could not recollect the driver’s face or my positive feeling towards him anymore. Perplexed, I greeted the bus driver as I got on to the good ole city bus. I have known the driver for a couple of month, and we became great friends. He is currently worried about the new city budget plans, which would cut millions of dollars in funds to the bus system, forcing layoffs and other means of getting revenue to maintain the system. I was sympathetic to his situation as he was just an ordinary dad with two young children.

As I looked out of the window, I still could not figure out my sudden anger at the cab. As I looked around the bus, the same madness boiled inside me again but not towards the cab but to the bus system! As I quickly regained composure, I realized that the cause of my anger was the advertisement that stared down on me. The sign was merely showing some cartoon characters, probably an advertisement for a new kid show on cable TV, but my emotions seem to be in conflict with the nature, not the content, of the advertisement.

Memories of the cab incident became clearer now. The sign outside of his door had the message “Buckle Up for Safety!” It was a good message for all the drivers on the streets, but the sign was only an advertisement for the new advanced seat belts by a car repair shop. The sign was indeed an advertisement in disguise of a public message, but was my sudden anger towards the driver justified?

My emotional side told me that advertisements are lies and trickery, and that there is a conflict of interest to any service that use advertisements. Even the bus system is guilty, because they are helping paying clients to lie and distort to the bus riders, who paid their fares for only transportation, not getting the nasty influences on advertisements.

But my logical side countered. Does having advertisements truly affect the service customers receive? The bus company does not charge more or less to riders who read the posted advertisements. The taxi cab drivers do not annoy their patrons by verbally promoting their advertiser’s message during the taxi ride. Even the newspapers and magazines rarely change their journalistic standards to accommodate advertisements.

My emotion concedes but raises another point. What about the taxi cab advertisement? The advertisement attempted to look like a public message to get the public’s attention. Are not the blended advertisements almost immoral in trying to trick the customers?

No. We live in a society that is bombarded with a lot of these blended advertisements that seems to mix some innocent elements, such as public message about the safety of wearing seatbelts, and the selling products. However, we also live in a society that can think and decipher these tricky messages, and most people except the little children fall for the trap. Overall, there is no need to morally judge services just by the presence of advertisements.

I finally got off to my stop near the library and decided to get take a coffee break at Christy’s coffee shop before doing my homework. This time, however, I decided to try the caramel coffee blend, because the giant picture of the new coffee looked delicious.