The United States is going through a severe economic crisis. So are many other countries, including Ireland. As an American who is deeply interested and involved in Ireland, I hope the Irish people don't succumb to either hysteria or despair. With discipline and shared sacrifice, we'll all come through this crisis.

My father's parents emigrated from Ireland to the United States during the last years of the 19th century. They settled in Boston where my father, the youngest of five children, was born. But he never knew his parents. His mother died shortly after his birth and his father was unable to care for the children, all of whom were then raised in orphanages.

Later my father was adopted by an elderly couple who were not Irish. It was a difficult time, so he left school after the fourth grade to begin a long life of hard and low-paid labour. As a result he had little awareness of his heritage. I never heard him say the word Ireland.

Nearly a century later, in circumstances my father could never have imagined, I went to Northern Ireland as the special representative of the president of the United States. I spent most of the next five years there, all of them devoted to ending the long and painful conflict which came to be known as the Troubles.

Despite enormous effort, until almost the very end, there was little or no progress. Peace seemed to be a distant and unattainable dream and I was often deeply discouraged. But at the same time I felt a sense of discovery and gratitude as I learned for the first time the meaning of my Irish heritage. I became aware that the land of my father's family was blessed with natural beauty and with people of grace and determination.

On the many flights from and to America, I read dozens of books about the compelling and sometimes tragic history of the Irish people. Every time I went to a new place – Coleraine, Cork, Armagh, Galway, Omagh, Limerick – I tried to imagine what my father would have thought and said if he'd had the chance to see the land of his parents' birth. I am certain of only one thing: that he would have loved Ireland and its people as much as I do.

As an outsider I'm reluctant to criticise. But, based on my experience, if the Irish have a fault, it's the tendency to underestimate themselves and their society. Being realistic about one's strengths and weaknesses is an asset; being relentlessly negative is not.

These are difficult times for people everywhere. But the Irish people have been through much worse. And from each crisis they have emerged stronger, better, more confident, more hopeful of the future.

The Troubles seemed endless. But they did end. So will the current economic crisis. Even very tough times cannot take from the people of this island their strength and determination to create a better future for their children.

I am an American and proud of it. But a large part of my heart and of my emotions will always be in Ireland, north and south.

For as long as I live, I will return. There will be some rain and chill. But, as always, the determination, warmth, and generosity of the people will sustain me, and them.