At times, we lose perspective. Let us regain some of it by realizing that however bad Hurricane Katrina seemed, it was not the worst natural disaster during the past 12 months, nor even during the summer. In fact, it may not even be the deadliest hurricane: in Central America a mudslide caused by Hurricane Stan may have cost 1,400 lives in Guatemala just last week (figures vary), as opposed to Katrina's awful but smaller toll of 1,200. We are in a steep curve of chastisement.And then there is the Pakistani-Indian quake: more than 40,000 dead from the weekend tremors. These...