Thankfulness
Larry Birnbaum, PhD., EPC
Associate Professor
Department of Exercise Physiology
The College of St. Scholastica
Duluth, MN 55811
It is the day before Thanksgiving and I am
contemplating all
that I have to be thankful for.
Thankfulness may not seem like a professional issue, but
shouldn’t all
professionals be thankful for their respective professions, for all the
hard work
that their predecessors completed on their behalf enabling them to
enjoy the
fruits of their profession? I am
thankful for exercise physiology. It has
provided numerous opportunities for me that have helped me personally
and
professionally. I am thankful for all
the exercise physiologists who have worked so hard to advance exercise
physiology as a health care profession. In
this regard, I have to give special thanks to the American Society of
Exercise
Physiologists (ASEP) for moving exercise physiology as an academic
discipline,
a field of study, to a health care profession.
The rapid progress made by ASEP is truly amazing. We now have a Board of Accreditation to
accredit academic programs. We have a
national certification exam to certify individuals as exercise
physiologists,
which assures employers that those who pass the exam have a specified
set of
competencies. We have Standards of
Practice, a Code of Ethics, online journals, an annual national
meeting, and
state chapters. Indeed, we have good
reason to give thanks.
I am also thankful for all
the work of the American Society
of Sports Medicine (ACSM) in the area of sports medicine.
After all, sports medicine is a part of
exercise physiology, and it is a fun area to study, to investigate, and
to
teach. The publications of ACSM have
served many professionals, not just exercise physiologists. As an academician, their publications have
proven to be a valuable resource.
I am thankful for students.
They keep me motivated, add joy to my life, and give me
hope for the
future. They are energetic, eager to
learn, and idealistic. Of course,
without students, I would not have a job, and I am thankful for my job,
not
just because it provides a paycheck. It
is also a job I thoroughly enjoy. I have
held a variety of jobs throughout my life, but none compare to being a
college
professor. Academia is a unique
culture. While some academicians may be
guilty of living in the proverbial ivory tower, I don’t think that is
true for
those of us in health care professions.
We have to be directly connected to the real world to
provide the
education our students need. In a sense,
I am enjoying the best of both worlds (i.e., academia and the “real”
world of
work). Traditional students also provide
a connection to the culture of youth, which I think is healthy for me
mentally
and physically. Thus, there are numerous
reasons to give thanks for my students.
It would be almost
sacrilegious if I did not give thanks for
my colleagues. I have been blessed with a
great group of individuals with whom I work.
They are a major factor in the level of satisfaction I
enjoy with my
job. They are quite literally collegial,
and they challenge me, inadvertently at least, to do my best. And, thank God, not all of our conversations
are deeply intellectual.
These are the gifts I am
thankful for as an exercise
physiologist and academician. Of course,
on a personal level, I give thanks for many other gifts.
As an exercise physiologist, are you thankful
for your profession and the work of your colleagues and predecessors
who are
working and have worked to advance the profession?
If not, perhaps you should consider becoming
more active in the service of your chosen profession.
ASEP invites you to do just that. The
more exercise physiologists we having
working together toward a common goal, the sooner we will achieve that
goal. And that would be worthy of
thankfulness.