ISSUE: Christmas

OUR VIEW: Reunion day comes in difficult times

Christmas is a special family day, a holiday unlike any other. It's becoming even more a family day -- a time for family reunions.

Survey information indicates the events of Sept. 11, 2001, and the uncertainties of a modern and turbulent world have made Americans more likely to seek out family during special days and times.

Families are more determined than ever to maintain traditions.

While Christmas gatherings may no represent the traditional Southern family reunion, they are important for similar reasons. Families reunite to keep in touch and pass family heritage to their children. This is important for genealogists and historians whose goal is to keep generations connected.

And they are important simply for relatives to get to know one another, to share Christmas greetings, a meal, gifts in some cases.

The gatherings this year inevitably will include discussion about tough economic times -- and a nation still at war. There will be talk of what is to come amid predictions of even tougher days ahead in 2009.

As appropriate, and necessary, as it is in a democracy to discuss the future, to disagree over policies and even wars, there must continue to be a realization that our leaders and fighting forces need support.

So many this Christmas are far from home, serving the nation in places such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Korea. Their reunions with family are by telephone, e-mail or Christmas card. For some, there is no possibility of reunion at all. They are on the front line, risking their lives in a cause that ultimately is about protecting all Americans.

On a happy Christmas Day, the problems and dangers may not be something you want to ponder. But do not forget there are thousands of Americans serving the country. And other thousands have paid the ultimate price. Their absence from the family reunion is very real.

Do not forget either the thousands upon thousands working this day, whether patrolling the roads, helping in hospitals or answering the fire call. Being there to serve does not stop with the holiday.

Pray this Christmas for the men and women serving this country at home and abroad, for our strength as a people to persevere and triumph, and for our nation's leaders as we anticipate more prosperous times ahead.

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