How do you like the new background?

This particular column is not a wry observation. It's carthartic.

As my home page says, I am member of the Babylon Lions. I used to be the webmaster, but that position has changed hands.

Our President for the 2006-2007 year was Lion Jimmy Smith. Jim past away on Monday, December 3rd, 2007.

At his wake, we offered our Lion's Ceremony where we line the room and aisles with fellow Lions and the deceased is eulogized.

Jim's was particularly difficult. He leaves a wife and his 10 year old son. And us.

Jim is one of us. We have work yet to do. He belongs walking, joking, drinking and working along side us.

At our last Superbowl party, Jim fronted $500 for one hundred $5 lottery tickets. We then used a deck of cards as $20 raffles, netting a $540 profit for the club, straight into our charities account. Jimmy was like that. And his wife and son were right there with him raising the cash. In fact, his wife sold all the cards!

Jim would always shake our hands at when we entered a meeting, and he'd always kiss me on the cheek. We never socialized outside the club, but Jim was a friend.

For two nights before his wake, I noticed that the parking lot of the funeral home, which is around the corner from my street, was packed. I had no idea who it was for. I knew it wasn't for Jim, yet.

It turned out that it was another acquaintance/friend of mine: Mr. Doug Hassell of Hassell Auto Body, who has serviced my family's cars when we have had those notorious fender benders.

Mr. Hassell was another good guy, with a smile and a handshake and a good word and genuine concern about your family. He was partner and best friend to his son Doug Jr.

I don't know enough about Mr. Hassell to really tell you about him. But I know how his staff felt about him. They loved hIm. I know how he came out to help me and my daughter when we wrecked our cars 20 miles from his shop. He was a down to earth kinda guy. Into boating, I know, and an accomplished captain.

This has not been a good week so far. It always seems that we hear of deaths in threes. I certainly hope this isn't true today.

Things like this make you feel so helpless. Christmas is around the corner. It will be meaningless to the adults in those families. Just say a prayer for them so that they can still bring the wonder and joy of the season to the kids. Say a prayer for them for the rest of their lives. It isn't just Christmas this year that matters: it's making the rest of the kids' lives matter.

There is no epilogue to this column. I am bummed out.

Say a prayer for all of them. For the Smith's. For the Hassell's. For everyone who lost a loved one this year. For our troops. For our cops. For our firemen.

Merry Christmas.