The main lesson I learned is that tragedy forces us to reexamine our priorities in a way that we simply do not do during normal times of comfortable living. What are your priorities?

When Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf coast on the morning of August 29, 2005, its grim domino aftermath caused catastrophic devastation, especially in the heavily populated coastal areas of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.

The 20th "World Youth Day" sponsored by the Roman Catholic Church brought an estimated 800,000 pilgrims to Germany for the six day religious festival of August 16-21, making it the largest religious convention ever held in the country.

Trouble, sadness, weeping, loneliness—of that we have plenty. But one of the world's worst problems is that we don't laugh enough for the right reasons.