If I take anything away from my pr/communications classes this semester it will be Professor Bufkins’ popular quote: “If the public thinks you have a problem, then you have a problem.”
I couldn’t agree with this more and lately I have been finding myself, to my horror, quoting it and applying it to real life situations. For example, the other day my ex-boyfriend and I were having a disagreement about another disagreement and why and where we disagreed in the first place. As the convoluted “misunderstanding” continued on I found myself looking at the situation in hindsight and, for the most part, remembering what had taken place. I rolled my eyes and mumbled, louder than I intended, “if the public thinks you have a problem, then you have a problem.”
I was mortified. Why in the heat of the battle am I even thinking about quotes from school? And PR quotes at that? I couldn’t even manage to think of a scholarly, mysterious quote, to at least leave him guessing, but instead something about public opinion and problems. It was then that I realized that public relations has taken over my life.
I eat, sleep, breathe and dream about the profession that I have not even stepped foot in yet, not completely at least. I always wonder how people devote their whole life to their career, love the life they live at work more than the one at home and live for the grind. I always wanted to see the people behind the scenes, the brains of the operation, so to speak.
After taking years of journalism classes, doing numerous projects, shadowing, volunteer work, working and doing everything else I can make time for, I now realize that it becomes a way of life for most. After a while, the hectic schedules become so second-nature that you don’t even realize it anymore.
Public relations is more than a career for most practitioners, it’s around-the-clock, it’s a lifestyle. It’s not hard for people that are truly passionate about their career to live it because they love what they do. The people that are successful in the field are successful because they chose to be. You have to work to make a good career out of this profession, even if an opportunity is handed to you, you have to grind to not only prove yourself but to prove the value of public relations itself.
PR is doubted, underestimated, frowned upon and misunderstood. The public assumes the profession is all about spin and damage control and twisting arms for your clients. PRSA’s next task should be to start a public relations campaign for the profession itself; to dispel the rumors and show that there are ethical practitioners in the field. To set an example for what public relations should be like and warn people of what it shouldn’t.
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