Last January Forrest M. Smythers Jr. and his wife Dawn argued over their Christmas lights, regarding whether they were coming down or staying up. The argument ended with Dawn Smythers dying from a .22 caliber bullet in her head. Mr. Smythers was sentenced last week for her death, given a life sentence plus several years for other violations.

Isn’t it amazing what people will get into heated disagreements over? In the grand scheme of things, Christmas lights are not a big deal. Could marriage counseling helped this couple at some point? I am hopeful that even in the worst cases it could make a difference, but there are very few things in life that are 100%. There’s a good chance that it was past the time that counseling could have made a big difference, but one could hope it may have turned their lives around.