PERSPECTIVE. The big story of the past few days has been the difficulty people have had getting to their relatives for Christmas, or getting back. The Chicago airports have dealt with freezing conditions and snow and ground stops elsewhere and ice this morning and fog this evening and who knows what tomorrow will bring.

And yes, it is inconvenient. Inconvenient, however, is not the end of the world. Consider "I'll Be Home for Christmas." The composer was a homesick college student and it became a hit during World War II. The appeal of the song was its realism: a tight budget or a deployment order, not cancellation of the last possible plane on the 24th, was what used to keep people away from their kin at Christmas.