The Robert Frost poem, "Out, out..." tells of a boy on farm in Vermont, preparing firewood with a buzz saw. Suddenly, his hand is severed by the saw and, in a few short minutes, he bleeds to death. Immediately upon revealing that he has died, the poem ends with the words, "And they, since they were not the one dead, turned to their affairs." When I first read that forty years ago, I thought it was shockingly cold. Since then, I have witnessed death numerous times and I have come to realize that, because we have little alternative, that is what humans do. We carry on.

In the aftermath of these events, I have thought a great deal about what humans do. One of my granddaughters asked her parents Tuesday afternoon, "Is it wrong for me to have been glad that I was able to stay home from school today?" It is quite human to think, at least briefly, probably guiltily, of how this tragedy affects us personally, even if we lost no one. Will it alter my weekend plans? Should I take a job on Wall Street? Will it distract the Astros from the pennant race? Will it affect my retirement funds? Is this worse for the Republicans or the Democrats?

That you probably had some of these thoughts, or thoughts in similar categories, does not mean that you are a bad or terribly shallow person. It means you are a human, with some self-regarding tendencies-an almost ineradicable human characteristic. That it may have bothered you to have had such thoughts is also human. But take comfort in the fact that many people also acted altruistically, even heroically, and that you would have as well, had you been there.

You would have pulled someone from debris if you had been able.

You would have given a ride to a person suffering from burns.

You would have stood in front of your store and handed out sneakers to women trying to walk or run in high heels.

You would have taken people into your home.

You would have laid flowers or contributed to memorials to aid fireman, whose daily bravery often goes unnoticed.

Dozens, maybe hundreds of you gave blood, and others would have if so many others had not already filled the need.

Had you been trained for it, and perhaps even if you hadn't, you would have gone into dangerous places to rescue trapped people, even at the threat-and perhaps the cost-of your own life. I know that you would have done that.

I know you would have.