Helping Myself

I believe that my personal philosophy of living was pretty much blueprinted for me by my father, who was a physician engaged in general practice in our town. You know the type: babies, boils, and broken bones. From him I got most of my basic beliefs. Sickness and suffering are great levelers and tend to equalize many differences, such as religious, financial, and social.

I believe the Golden Rule pays off the greatest dividends in human relationships. I believe that ambition is an excellent attribute if the aim is an obtainable goal. I believe that aside from those catastrophic misfortunes which sometimes hit all of us, people create most of their own problems. I believe that we can do a great deal for people without ever really helping them.

Now as a psychiatrist, I have seen and talked to thousands of people who were having difficulties. I have been particularly fortunate, having been born, reared, and educated in the same place where I teach and practice psychiatry. This has given me the opportunity to see many of the same people over a long period of time in the actual process of living, with all the happiness and unhappiness involved therein. Out of these experiences has come a strengthening of my earlier beliefs and teachings. Illness, trouble, and pain force one—with humility—to recognize a common heritage of humanity.

Coming from a city with a Southern past and having had a grandfather who fought for the Confederacy, it was important for me to learn that colored people can get just as sick as anybody, and that in combating anemia, Negro blood is just as effective as white blood.

The Golden Rule precludes selfishness, but I see so many people who have never learned its basic principle. The simple rule of treating other people as you would like to be treated can bring infinite happiness and tremendous satisfactions. I see many patients who have suffered from too much ambition and have tried frustratedly to own the shoe factory rather than content themselves with being the best cobbler in the entire area—this in spite of the fact that almost everybody wears shoes.

Most people seem to make their own little troubles by worrying, fretting, and stewing about highly improbable, disastrous happenings. It is a rare experience for a psychiatrist to see something actually come to pass that a patient has been worrying about. Once, between halves of a high school football game, our coach was berating the team for fumbling—I was the waterboy. When one of the players protested that the other team was getting all the breaks, the coach replied, “The best team forces the breaks.” And I believe I see many people who do not recover fumbles and who are unhappy about some other person who they believe is getting the breaks.

Now although my father died when I was relatively young, he taught me the value and satisfaction of helping myself. And I feel I see many instances where an effort is made to help people, but too often there is little effort made to help people help themselves. Now these things I believe, partly because they were taught me and have allowed me to live a full and happy life, and partly because as a psychiatrist I see many unhappy people who have not been able to accept them.

Born in 1907 in Louisville, Kentucky, Dr. William “Billy” Keller became one of the city’s most prominent medical authorities. At the University of Louisville, Keller chaired the Medical School’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences from 1964 to 1973. Keller was also notably passionate about highway safety and was one of America’s first advocates for automobile seat belt laws. Keller died in Louisville in 1990.