Give me a "Life Count," Please

Wise words from Mr. Fulghum :

Though I may live a long, long time I will never ever understand the importance to the media of daily dead body counts. There seems to be a crisis because they cannot yet say exactly how many people died in New Orleans or how that body count compares to the number of deaths in other natural disasters. When we know, will the matter be closed?

How much better I would feel if I knew exactly how many escaped death and injury by an inch or a second and got up and pressed on. That’s what I want to know is possible. Give me a count of those who walked through the fires of hell and lived to tell the tale and looked around for what needed to be done next. And did it.

Count the living, the unbowed, the unbroken, the determined. Give me a life count.

I'd definitely like to see a "life count." But what are the odds that we will? I, for one, will remain optimistic -- there are many stories of heroism and bravery, luck and love, selflessness and kindness, and sheer grit coupled with determination that are sure to come out. Soon, I hope.