Opinion: Rusty Saber counts down to 25 years of observations

If my count is correct, a scant three issues are yet to be written before the 25th-anniversary issue of the Rusty Saber makes its early January appearance.

Let me think, a countdown should include things that, well, that count down to something.

That’s a tough one.

I should kick off the countdown by featuring a favorite topic from the 25 years of the life of Rusty Saber.

Fleeting thought

Well, above the rest of the topics, according to readers, has been our own pugnacious Springfield drivers. From the very beginning, Rusty Saber has poked fun at local drivers only to be cheered on by readers. Through the years, when stumped for a column idea, I could always count on the red-light-running Springfield drivers to score a hit with readers.

I must be honest: As traffic in other cities has grown so complex, I have concluded that Springfield drivers are no worse than drivers anyplace else.

It pains me to no end to say this, but they may actually be better than drivers I have come across in other places.

You might say that time has healed Springfield drivers. If so, I’m deprived of a supreme standby topic.

Christmas crusade

Let’s see, we’re in the midst of the Christmas season. I could be an old curmudgeon and complain about how the season was rushed this year. I know, it’s rushed every year, but this year seems even more so. Christmas ads began showing up in print and a few on TV in early November. By Thanksgiving, Christmas decorations had appeared in stores and the TV ads were running full blast.

The rushing of the Christmas shopping season should provide me with a soapbox from which to rant. The merchants, however, need to do well at Christmas in order to have a profitable bottom line. So, what the heck, let them jump the gun by a few days.

Besides, if the contest to rush Christmas continues, the season will eventually begin in earnest following Labor Day.

At about this time every December, stories pop up about civil libertarians demanding removal of a Christmas tree from a school somewhere – such as what recently occurred at Missouri State University’s Strong Hall – usually arguing that the tree violates the separation of church and state clause in the U.S. Constitution.

Another common story is the muttonhead getting offended because a clerk in a store says “Merry Christmas.”

It doesn’t take much to push my politically correct Christmas-rant button. But less of that nonsense has gone on so far this season.

So, this subject doesn’t make the cut either as countdown column fodder.

Multitude of mail

The mailbox stuffed to the gills daily with Christmas catalogs, special holiday sales brochures, and fundraising materials has been fair game for a holiday Rusty Saber topic.

If it’s possible, there are more mailings this Christmas season than in the past.

Every day, I sort through oceans of advertising to see if anything even slightly personal might be stuck in the midst of it all. It’s as though the mailbox has been appropriated by the advertisers, and my only job is to carry all of the ads into the house.

But all that creative art work, printing and the like provides work for lots of people; and, who knows, I might find something I want to order.

Besides, it can all be recycled. No countdown topic here.

Still searching

So, dear readers, to know the final countdown topics, read the few Rusty Sabers to come.

Joe McAdoo is former chairman of the communication department at Drury University.[[In-content Ad]]