What kind of meaning do you demand

My family has a tradition. On Christmas, we go to movies. Not actually a surprise, right? But then came this Christmas, with my wife back east visiting her family, leaving me to spend the holiday by myself.

So while yesterday I went out to see “Munich,” today I wanted to stay home and watch an On Demand film on my television (55-inch HD screen). So what do I choose? “Monty Python’s the Meaning of Life.” At the moment, I’m watching Part VII, “Death,” where the Grim Reaper has appeared at the dinner party to take the three couples “away.”

“Well, that’s cast rather a gloom over the evening, hasn’t it,” says Jeff, the character played by Graham Chapman – strangely enough, the only one of the troupe who is dead in real life.

I can’t think of a better movie to watch on Christmas. To take an honest look at life, pain and the whole damn thing, without the need for some sort of mythical rationale for this thing we call existence – well, that’s what I call the meaning of life.