For various reasons including overexpectation of or excessive focus on good tidings and reduction of sunlight, the holidays are for some a depressing period. Also, there are those who just have the bad luck to have fate choose them that time of year. For instance, I find it a bit strange that at this moment a jury is pondering the life of the recently convicted teen sniper. Actually, would not at least one or two feel some forgiving spirit in honor of the birth of their lord, and choose life? If I was the state, I would not want the decision to fall this time of year. [After the jury decided to give him life, the prosecutor basically said the same thing.] Likewise, the usual deaths and tragedies continue, including the death of Brett Favre's father. There was some question about him playing yesterday, but what better way to honor the person who coached you in high school, and watched you shine?

Lesser known tragedies also obviously occurred as well, more tragic perhaps than a premature (he was not yet sixty) death Mr. Favre. For instance, Marcia Gay Harden recently took her niece to see Mona Lisa Smile in which Harden had a supporting role. She recently had to attend a funeral ... her nephew, niece, and sister-in-law died in a fire (in my city; things seem a bit closer to home when they happen close to you, even if you have no real connection to them) soon afterwards. We ourselves all have some connection to such tragedies. For instance, as it snowed one weekend I was over visiting a relative, we all wondered why the police were next door. We later learnt that the neighbor, known in a 'hi, how are you doing' way by the relative, lost a child by crib death. We have yet to experience something quite like that. We have no desire ever to do so, thank you.

This holiday season even has what seems like more than its fair share of depressing movies. Tragedy is front of center in such movies as Mystic River (Harden had a supporting role), 21 Grams, and House of Sand and Fog. Bad Santa is a dark comedy. Cold Mountain involves people struggling to survive during the Civil War. And so it goes. The lessons that can be learned, the understanding gained, and deep thoughts offered are almost obvious, if no less profound in the end. So, I will leave them to you ... it just seemed that the dark side of things is showing itself a bit more these days, and not just because we are warned of higher terrorist alerts.

And, I take that with equanimity, especially if it all keeps its distance.