Counting our blessings

LIKE ROOT CANALS and colonoscopies, audits are things most would like to avoid; maybe that's why every 10 years, when the giant human audit that is the U.S. census rolls around, rumors and tall tales about what the government is going to do with the information it collects causes panic in some quarters. As the 2010 count gets under way, with census forms arriving in the mail this week, we expect nothing different. The city has opened an office called Philly Counts to encourage participation, especially among hard-to-count populations and those most likely to fear the census because they fear being discovered.

Making sure everyone is counted is important, since accurate counts help determine congressional representation; undercounting can cost the city millions in federal dollars. (As well as loss of face, as we battle with Phoenix over the size of our population.)

Yesterday the biggest community leader of all was pressed into service to spread the word: God. In churches and places of worship around the city, pastors and priests, rabbis and imams addressed their congregations about census participation. Which brings new meaning to the term "counting your blessings." *