9/11 to Katrina: America's Resilience Shines

As the disaster of Katrina unfolds, Americans face other grim memories. This weekend marks the fourth anniversary of the Sept. 11 tragedy.

The world is full of tragedy, suffering, and despair. Yet amid it all, there is one common thread -- the resilience of the human spirit. How is it that human beings can endure so much without losing heart?

"Our human psyche has evolved to allow us to get through serious stressors in our lives," says Joseph Garbely, MD, a professor of psychiatry and internal medicine at Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia. "We're programmed innately to persevere. It is our innate survival instinct; that beacon that unconsciously drives us all. We want to leave our mark, leave our footprint on this earth. So we keep marching on."

Mobilizing America's Spirit

With the Sept. 11 tragedy, America's collective spirit began to take shape, Garbely tells WebMD. "That took us all by storm. We were all in shock and awe by what happened. Then as we digested it all, people rushed in to help. That prepared us, now we're more on the ready. I helped out with Sept. 11, and couldn't wait to see what I could do with Katrina. These catastrophes coming so close together almost prepare us for doing the right thing."

In fact, too many volunteers have turned out to help evacuees in Philadelphia, he reports. "We haven't had the big numbers that were expected. But volunteers have been turned away, there have been so many. Because Sept. 11 is still so palpable, people are ready to pitch in."

What he's witnessed "has been dazzling," Garbely tells WebMD. "We pull each other up. We're driven to help each other, which brings us together. We may be divided on some issues, but when disaster occurs, all that goes away. Our common goal, our similarity, is to pick ourselves up, bond, put aside our differences, for the common good."