Smokey and us

I realized only recently that Smokey the Bear meant more than I realized as a child.

“Only you can prevent forest fires”: only you, singular, the individual viewer watching a PSA on a black-and-white TV.

But also: only you humans , plural. The animals who dwell in the forest can’t prevent forest fires. Only humans can. Granted, humans can’t prevent them all. But they’re the only ones who can crush smokes dead out, &c.

YouTube has a pile of Smokey PSAs. Today’s message: “Only you can prevent wildfires.”