I’ve talked about this before but it’s becoming more intimate to me. Victor Frankl in his famous book “Man’s Search for Meaning” talked about his time in the concentration camps. He talked about enduring the “what”. The “what” in his case was of course tremendous suffering. He talked of being treated in such a way that most of the prisoners simply forgot they were human.
I remember him talking about having the ability to escape. They could have. But what they knew was better than what they didn’t. They existed on such little food and water that they didn’t believe they could survive outside of the camp. At least inside the camp they thought they had a slim chance. How amazing is that.
They thought it was better to stay in the most cruel of all situations ever faced in the history of mankind instead of taking the chance on escaping. Man’s most basic instinct. Survive.
Survive, not thrive. Thrive is a bonus, survive is a must.
Some days it seems as if life is surviving. Mortality has been staring me straight in the eye for as long as I can remember. More intently lately. I stare back…and keep going.
Why? Because I want to believe I have a “why”. I want it so desperately. To know it’s not wasted.
Victor’s suffering was not wasted. Thank God he found his why.
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