Calvert F. Cazier, PhD, MPH

Nobody Wants Me Down More Than I Want Me Up!

In the movie, “The Unsinkable Molly Brown” there is a scene where Molly’s brothers are holding her down with her face in the dirt. They keep telling her to say ‘Uncle’ and they will let her up. She refuses and finally gets herself free and she stands in front of them, points her finger, and aggressively says, “Nobody wants me down more than I want me up!”

I like to think that this statement reflects my life. I have Tourette syndrome as well as comorbid Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) but I am not disabled. I have challenges in my life associated with those things but they can’t hold me down and stop me from doing what I want and love to do.

As an adjunct professor at Brigham Young University I have a unique way of introducing myself to my class. I will let a former student introduce me as she did with a voluntary summation of her feelings that first night of class.

“… [The] class discussion was like a roller coaster ride! It started with so many mixed feelings ranging from ‘What have I signed up for?’ … [and] ended with ‘Wow!’ Our professor, Calvert Cazier, introduced himself to us in the most interesting way. … He told us about his favorite subject which, of course, was himself. Why? … from the start [he] showed obvious signs of some kind of a physical issue that he apparently deals with almost on a constant basis. It made me have so many thoughts such as ‘What is wrong with him?’ and ultimately ‘Will I be able to learn from him or will the constant jerking movements distract me so much that I will not be able to focus?’ I was glad that he chose to start with his ‘favorite subject.’ It was the only way that my mind was going to be able to put the questions to rest and then be able to really listen.”

“… My roller coaster ride for the first class session … ended just as all roller coaster rides do—with a sense of joy, wonder, and satisfaction. Just as it was his intent, Dr. Cazier was successful at breaking the ice and overcoming those initial reservations that I had at the beginning of the class as I am sure many of the students had. … Now I look forward to learning all that this class has to offer about consumer health issues. But I am not sure that anything will be as important for me to learn as what I learned from this introductory class. I will never forget.”

This sums up my life and lets people know my passion. I want to use what I have learned through my experiences to help others become resilient, move forward with their life, and most importantly take control and not let anyone hold them down when they want to be up.