Writing Should Be Powerful, But Real

As a guy who writes marketing materials for a living, I understand that if I fail to gain the reader’s attention, it doesn’t matter what I say because it’s going to remain invisible. Yet it’s just as bad, and possibly worse, to irritate the reader with outrageous assertions that insult the intelligence.

Actually, I really don’t know how to respond to this piece: “13 Beautiful Places to Visit Before You Die.” Is it somehow an attempt at humor?

I was amused that the first of the 13 is the Westin Maui Resort, which offers “a luau, courses in hula and lei making, and where all rooms come with flat-screen TVs, refrigerators and coffee machines.” Don’t you question the aesthetic sensibilities of anyone who would consider this one of the most beautiful places on Earth?

I also smiled at the title. What value is added by these last three words (before you die)? How much traveling does one expect to do after one dies? As singer-song-writer Todd Snider points out in one of the verses in his classic “Enjoy Yourself (It’s Later Than You Think)“:

Next year for sure you’ll see the world
You’ll really get around
But how far can you travel
When you’re six feet underground?

We’re all faced with the demand to stay relevant and present in the noisy and chaotic world of today, but some ways of getting there are better than others.