The movie 'American Beauty' began with the words of look closer. The voice, Kevin Spacey, opening our eyes to the stories behind the closed doors of the world. A painfully raw awakening that what we see on the surface is so often the furthest from the truth.

As I walked into work this morning I saw a pigeon in the road. He was on the side, near the sidewalk that was about 4 inches high. He didn't move when I walked by and I quickly realized he was hurt. The road is quite busy and immediately I began to tear up. I stopped and tried to know what to do. Ultimately I kept walking, turning back often. The last time I turned back I didn't see him anymore. I don't know where he went.

As I walked into my building, the huge TV in our foyer that airs CNN constantly was showing a drawing of the mine in Utah. It was marked with where the miners were trapped, the microphone cameras and the rescue approach. I paused and continued to my office and I thought - they have been down there for a really long time. For every family in Utah, for every person in that town, the world outside has virtually stopped. Time is creeping by and panic has most likely become a comfortable emotion.

Maybe I'm just extra emotional today, maybe I'm over-feeling it, but as I sit here in my air conditioned office with the heat index expected to tap the 108 degree mark I wonder about other people's lives. I cherish my own life. I know just how lucky I am. I thank my higher power many times each day for my blessed life.

Somedays though, I just wonder how some people make it. How can they survive? Am I doing enough? Am I doing anything? When I die and I'm taking that final exam will I be asked questions like - why didn't you try to get the pigeon out of the road that day? Why didn't you donate a fan to charity or offer cold water to the homeless?

I don't know....