Holidays are a hard time here. One of the major reasons is something that does not seem to be common knowledge outside the area: the vast number still displaced by Katrina and Rita. During this time of year, a time centered around family and friends, the sheer number of faces not at the table is a painful thing.

For myself, I can honestly say that a full third of the people in my social circle remain scattered from Baton Rouge to Eugene, OR. From conversations with friends I gather this is a common thing. Then you add in the faces that will never return to the table, those who for one reason or anther are no longer with us.

In New Orleans in particular the causes are manifold. Many of the elderly, including my two remaining grandparents, did not manage to survive the storms and their aftermath. The additional strain of living in the recovery zone has cut a swath through the ranks of our elders, a situation whose social ramifications with take a generation to fully assess. Of those still among the living, many have decided not to return due to the additional stress and strain of post-Katrina life. Either way, they are elsewhere.

At the other end of the spectrum are the very young. While children are still fairly plentiful, many parents have gone “somewhere with good schools,” or economic opportunity. Hard arguments to counter in a region known for poverty and below-average education.

Then there are those taken from us by violence. Far too many of them, more each week. The sound of gunshots provide a fatal back-beat to the routines of daily life. Faces known and unknown, all of them somebody’s mother, father, brother or sister. More empty seats at the table.

For many of us this is a time of plenty. Not so much as prior years with the economy in the tank, but still the feasts go on. For others it is a time when the loss of those missing from the table is thrown into sharp relief by their empty chairs.

Things here are still far from fixed.