The man that I’ve pondered the longest and that inspired me the most in the midst of the Katrina disaster in New Orleans was Augie. You’ve probably met folks like him in your life from time to time. He smiles with his entire body! He just sort of scrunches right up into a total-body-smile. His high pitched but deeply southern voice encouraged and comforted all of us. Everyone within a ten foot radius couldn’t help but smile when he did. Contagious.

I met him one week to the day after the levy broke and I was serving as the director of the medical triage unit at the New Orleans Convention Center. Augie lost everything. Well, almost everything. He told me that he had been trapped inside of his house and had to cut a hole in the roof when the water continued to rise and he became trapped in his attic. He came quite close to drowning that first night. After sitting on his roof for what must have seemed like a lifetime, Augie finally slid down his roof and landed in the rescue boat that had come at last. They dropped him off on "dry" land. Shaking hands and enthusiastically thanking the rescuers he was grateful to be on land once again.

He then loaded all he had left into a shopping cart  that had been abandoned along side of the road and he was on his way. He pushed it down road after road until he arrived at the convention center for processing and evacuation.  The shopping cart carried three garbage bags full of his "stuff". He very neatly rolled up his six blankets, tied them with a string, and placed them on top of the cart lining them up just so across the child’s seat

As soon as he arrived at our medical unit, he started looking for things that he could do to help others. There was a very elderly woman in a wheelchair that  was very upset. He squatted next to her and calmed her down with a dose of his Southern charm.

Back in the 1970’s, Dr. Julian Rotter described one of the key elements that separates victims from survivors. She noted that victims had an "external locus of control" while survivors had an internal locus of control. In other words, victims viewed the world as something that happened "to" them. They were at the mercy of external forces such as other people, the environment or other circumstances. Survivors, on the other hand, believed that the control rested with them. They may not be able to stop a levy from breaking but they enthusiastically believe that they can make an impact on the environment around them. The well known holocaust survivor and psychiatrist, Viktor Frankl, believed that no matter what his captors did to him, they could not take away his ability to choose how he would respond. Dr. Frankl despite intense suffering, like Augie, remained in control.

That evening as things started to cool off, Augie came to me and asked if he could have the piece of cardboard that was leaning against the fence. In the midst of all the commotion with as many as six very loud helicopters landing in front of us at any given time, I hadn’t noticed the cardboard. It looked like a box for a queen mattress. I was surprised to see it there but, then again, I’m not sure where a lot of the stuff came from during those days. I asked Augie what he wanted it for but I wasn’t at all prepared for his answer. He said, "Docta, you see, I’ve been goin’ around and coverin’ up all of da elderly folk. I only had six blankets. But, there is a seventh man. I didn’t have a blanket for him and I was wonderin’ if I might be able to cover him up with that."

I could barely speak.

It seems to me that Dr. Rotter only had part of the story. Augie taught me the rest:

• Victims have an external locus of control and an internal focus of purpose.
• Survivors ("Thrivors") have an internal locus of control and an external focus of purpose.

So, what are your thoughts? How will you choose to live?

About the Author

Dan Diamond, MD FAAFP and the folks at Powerdyme help organizations achieve results through effective keynote presentations and powerful workshops focusing on employee resilience. For more information visit www.powerdyme.com or call 360-620-5000.

Permission is granted to reprint this article in print or on your web site as long as the paragraph above is included and contact information is provided to reprints@powerdyme.com. Thank you.

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