With another hurricane bearing down on the Gulf Coast, we should all take time to stop and think about what matters: people.

Were I to retain a title, it would probably be "Queen of Crassitude." I love to be sarcastic and often to the detriment of politicians in general. But as I watched Hurricane Rita - about as far from a lovely meter maid as one could get - develop from a category three to a category five in less than eight hours, suddenly the idiotic things silly people say meant nothing.

As has always been the case with me and, I know, millions of other people around the world, any tragedy, whether impending or already passed, causes me to pause and take in what really counts in this life: people. People count. They matter in a way material things simply do not....never have, and never will.

Country singer Alan Jackson wrote a song shortly after 9/11 that expressed perfectly what so many went through: they hugged the ones they loved, thankful for the fact they were all still alive. We wept not only for the thousands who lost their lives, but for their families and for the state of things that allowed hatred to grow to such a singularly-tragic dimension. I was there, I weep still.

Now, we are facing a force that dwarfs anything any human being could ever concoct, with the exception of the nuclear bomb: nature.

And it is odd how that force has the infinite capacity to rip apart the fabric of our very existence; yet forms the solid foundation for bonding as people, together, despite all of our differences of opinion, ethincity, religion....all differences. It is, likewise, somewhat sad that it has to be that to bring people together.

Our planning director, Peggy O'Neill, is in Alabama right now, training for disaster preparedness through the Red Cross for this area of the world. I wonder how she is feeling right now, knowing that her return here will probably be delayed by the fact she might be asked to help out in Texas. I suspect that planning anything is the furthest thing from her mind.

I do not want to see people die tragically. It sickens me. But we must also recognize that death is part of life. It is the endless cycle of rebirth - and creates renewal of faith, love, hope, and charity.

I recognize there are some out there who simply do not care about anything but themselves. They are not "evil," but simply indifferent in a way to which I will never be able to relate.

People count. We cannot stop nature from exacting her toll on us - we simply must accept her power and be humbled thereby. But in the aftermath of disastrous natural events, remember to say a prayer for the grieving, the missing, the injured, and the sick - and wrap your hearts around those who help with the healing when it is all over with, and the storm has passed. After all, we are all related.