I'm sorry too! So now what?

Well now vacation is over (0k, about seven months of vacation) - and I'm back to thinking about what on earth I, a single individual, can do to make a positive impact on the incredibly sad and screwed-up state of the world. I know, I thought I had that all figured out with the "Hey! I'll run some worthy charitable organization!" plan. But it turns out that despite my modest successes in that department, running things makes me kinda crazy. Stuffing envelopes doesn't quite meet my criteria for mental simulation and clear payoff, so...still in search of the middle ground.

No answers yet, but - I was in Seattle's big independent bookstore with my parents when I saw this book, Sorry Everybody, which also has a Web site. It's photos from thousands of Americans apologizing to the world for the re-election of GW Bush. http://www.sorryeverybody.com/ You can click through the photos, which range from very funny ("The people in this picture are much sorrier than they appear") to very angry, to simple and businesslike: "We're so sorry, world. We'll try to do better."

Now they are also collecting photos from people around the world, accepting our apologies. "It's ok, Italy forgives you." "We're sorry for you too." "It's cold here in Norway, but you're always welcome!"