One of my favorite and most influential music videos is “Everybody Hurts” by REM. In case you haven’t seen it, it’s set in a traffic jam on an urban highway. One by one, you peer into various cars and see a caption of the occupants’ thoughts, such as “I wonder if anyone cares”, “Does she still love me?”, and “I feel so alone”. The theme is that everybody has stuff going on at any given time, lots of stuff, some good and some painful. So no matter what’s going on, we’re not alone. That idea both comforted me during a difficult time and changed my perspective on people. It’s easy to get so wrapped up in our own little world that we don’t think much about what’s in other people’s worlds. I’ve had tons on my mind lately – busy shifts at work, trying to be a better husband, the garage sale, grants, the surprisingly complex process of babymaking, Bible study, wills, stock purchases, and many other things. But my people also have their own pressures and topics to think about. One couple is starting to raise money to adopt a baby after their final in-vitro attempt failed. One friend feels like all her friends have left her behind because they all have husbands and kids while she’s still single. One friend got fired and is looking for a new job. One couple just bought their first home. One friend has a pituitary mass and is waiting to find out how the docs want to treat it. One friend is still waiting to get a job as a firefighter after months of interviews, waiting, hoping, and enduring a job he hates so that he can continue to put food on the table. One relative interviewed for a job up in Chicago. It all combines to form the beautiful mess of Planet Earth. As Ferris Bueller said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”