The Rev. Miles Brandon of The Episcopal Student Center, Austin, TX notes that our culture is captivated with making lists.

It all started in 1955 when Edgar Smith of Fortune suggested that the magazine publish a list of the largest U.S. companies. At that very moment, the Fortune 500 was born. Today Fortune not only prints up the 500 list, but “The Forty Richest People Under 40,” “The Fifty Most Powerful Women in Business,” “The 100 Best Companies to Work For,” “The 25 Most Powerful Lobbyists in Washington” and “The Best Companies for Minority Employees.” You’re likely to find a new list in every issue. (1)

There was even a series of books a few years back titled simply The Book Of Lists that consisted entirely of lists on unusual topics like “The world’s greatest libel suits,” “People suspe…