(instead of a bad haiku)

For the past four days, I've been trying to get out a poem about the rescue workers in China who were lost in mudslides. But it just won't come.

It reminds me of the firefighters who worked the Twin Towers on 9/11. Or those who fought to save one another as they watched the water rise in New Orleans.

We see so many examples of compassion and sacrifice throughout religious and spiritual teachings, but it can be so much more significant and affecting to see such acts within the realm of human experience. I feel blessed by such tremendous acts of courage and reminded of the incredible strength and generosity people are capable of in times requiring heroes.