Lately it seems from the national to local level, people are being bombarded by numbers that impact on their daily lives, their community, and, possibly, on the very future of their nation. Some of those numbers, particularly the national economic bailout numbers of $700 billion are simply mind boggling, others like the local budget and tourism statistics are understandable by most people with a little effort, and that this year’s Adoration Celebration with be the 60th presentation of the event is almost a no brainer.
At the national level whether it’s a billion here or a billion there doesn’t make any difference. A person can drive themselves crazy trying to understand it all and getting frustrated over something most believe they are powerless to change. At the end of the day, all most people have to know about economic numbers at the federal level is that if they are making any money, have saved any money, or have the hopes of making or saving any money it is that money that will be used to pay the billions the government will spend or redistribute
At least the current budget situation in Branson tones the numbers down from billions to tens of millions. Even there however, the numbers used to establish and manage the city of Branson’s budget are huge and dependent on the input and analysis of a lot of data. In fact, recent events indicate that until recent days, the information and data necessary to evaluate and effectively manage the city’s budget flowed from a broken financial system. As a result, just this week, the Branson Board of Aldermen passed a resolution authorizing the continuation of necessary and essential expenditures to operate the city of Branson through Nov. 3 because they could not complete the Fiscal 2008-2009 budget on time.
As compared to the billions at the national level and the tens of millions involved with the city budget, the smaller numbers usually associated with the percentages used in evaluating the tourism industry seem more understandable. Most people understand if the overall visitation to Branson is down 5.1 percent or the number of inquiries for information on visiting Branson is down 27.6 percent for the first six months of 2008, as compared to the same period in 2007, that is not a good thing.
It is when the numbers get down the 1 to 60 range involving how many years the Adoration Celebration has been taking place within our community that the Ole Seagull feels like he just might have a bare grasp on the situation. Although, in most people’s hearts the reason for the celebration, the adoration of Christ, is more important than the number of times the celebration has been held, depending on how one calculates the numbers, the 2009 Adoration Celebration is a milestone 60th year.
To the best of what an Ole Seagull can find out, the first Adoration Celebration took place in December of 1949. Based on that there are some who would say this is the 59th Adoration Celebration and others who would say it’s the 60th. The good news is that most would say, regardless of what number celebration it is, the Adoration Celebration is a tradition that celebrates the very core of what makes our community so special.
That said and for what it matters, in an Ole Seagull’s opinion, it is the 59th Anniversary of the first Adoration Celebration computed, as most anniversaries are, by subtracting the current year from the date the event being celebrated first occurred, 2008 from 1949 with the resultant 59 years. Whether it’s years, months, days or hours the specific period for the anniversary being celebrated must past first. The first anniversary of the Adoration Celebration was the 1950 celebration which was actually its 2nd presentation.
Using that same logic, doesn’t that makes 2008 the 60th presentation of the community’s Adoration Celebration? Some might ask, “Isn’t it simpler than that, if 2006 was the 58th and 2007 was the 59th doesn’t that make 2008 the 60th?” An Ole Seagull would answer, “Yes” and take the opportunity to express his prayer of thanks to his God for a community that chose to set time aside, those many years ago, to honor the source of its character and heritage and the hope for the eternal salvation of its people, Jesus Christ.
