I’M BLESSEDLiving in the South as I do has offered a plethora of advantages and disadvantages. People look at me cross-eyed when they hear that I am from Birmingham, Alabama, once considered the bastion of overt racism, and query me how could I possibly live there? It’s so hot, others observe. It’s out of the loop note my northeastern friends. It moves too slow, they say. It’s provincial. It’s polluted. It’s too religious. All you have there is a huge cast-iron statue, who shows off his naked tush.

Well, there are some truths there. We have been the spotlight for racism, but people of different ethnicities and backgrounds now plan and work together in the spirit of civil harmony. It is hot a lot of the year (one reason things move so slow), but we sleep with our windows open and use a lot of fans. It used to be polluted, but the steel mills have moved away, and as I type this column I am gazing up into a clear, blue sky. And Vulcan (the aforementioned statue), which was built for a world’s fair, has been pulled down and broken apart. The region has almost raised the twelve million dollars necessary for its repair (and gained John McCain’s national wrath for garnering some federal funding). It is a deeply religious part of the country, a place where religion is not kept in one’s back pocket, often imbued with southernisms I hadn’t known existed, one being the phrase "I’m blessed".

My first exposure to this was asking one of my patients how she was doing; her response? "I’m blessed". I struggled to understand this. She had schizophrenia, and terrible complicating medical illnesses, and burdens that to me would be unbearable, like poverty, run-down housing, and a child in prison. And yet she presented to the clinic on time for every one of her appointments, as well-dressed as she could, with a smile on her face, and a hug for me at the end of each of our sessions. Along with countless other patients, she has taught me about blessings, about recognizing strengths, and embracing connections (in spite of differences), about treasuring precious moments, about recognizing what is important, and what is not so important, and about sharing those blessings with others.

These lessons have been sorely tested as we have all struggled to deal with the recent tragedies of terrorism; how can we be blessed in the face of such horror? Since September 11 the AACP list serve has been replete with rich discussions on how people are trying to help; help the victims, help the care providers, help each other, help the nation recover. And we have struggled with how to conceptualize the attacks, what do they mean, why did they happen, can we change us, or them, or the world, so they won’t happen again. The depth of caring and commitment by the AACP membership has been profound and heartfelt. And, I believe, predicated on our realization that we are blessed, on our stopping and realizing how precious certain things are to us: our families, our vocations, our country. These events have opened the minds and hearts and souls of people across our nation, and worldwide, and have led to more creative acts of heroism and help and hope than could ever be imagined, small and huge, reported on or unidentified.

As we continue to struggle with the aftermath of these attacks, I would encourage us to stay connected with each other. As you become involved with disaster planning and response locally, keep us posted on the AACP list serve of how things are proceeding. Send your queries and requests across the ‘net’. Join the AACP Disaster Committee (chaired by Ken Thompson). More importantly, consider how blessed you are, consider the precious commodities in your life, treasure them, and give back to the world ten-fold the blessings you receive.