Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen

An otherwise unremarkable 1999 film features the following words: "I am suddenly very aware of the lateness of things."

The aforementioned line of dialogue has particular poignancy for me.

Retirement beckons Wednesday, Nov. 1, as I have reached the magic Medicare-eligible age.

(Thank you, President Lyndon Johnson.)

The largest part of my working life has been spent pastoring churches but I began and finished my career turning out copy for the printed page.

My first full-time job out of Pennsylvania's Westminster College in 1980 was working for a family-owned community newspaper in my hometown of Pittsburgh.

My last full-time job has been working for a family-owned community newspaper in Cape Girardeau, the one you are reading right this moment.

The symmetry is hard to miss.

There are people to thank but too many come to mind and I have no wish to injure feelings by leaving out a name.

Fifty months ago, God opened a door for me to 40-hour-a-week employment with the Southeast Missourian.

At midweek, God will close that door — to which I say, with gladness, "Thanks be to God."

Regardless of what any contemporary politician might say, legendary journalist Bob Woodward was correct when he popularized this phrase: "Democracy dies in darkness."

Newspapers hold up a flashlight by reporting news,

Sometimes it is done well; other times, perhaps, not so well.

I don't particularly want to live in a community without a daily newspaper and, forgive me, neither should you.

Please keep reading this periodical and keep up your subscription so this venerable publication can continue to lift up a light.

"Venerable" is one of my favorite words.

Christopher Borro is my successor as business editor of the Southeast Missourian.

He's an excellent writer, will turn out better prose than me and I wish him and all of my soon-to-be former colleagues very well indeed.

To quote the 1983 title of the final episode of TV series M*A*S*H — Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen.

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