EMERALD ISLE, North Carolina
United States
Carrollton High School
Kent State University-BS Elementary & Middle School Education
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All at Craven County Schools in New Bern, NorthCarolina
Ohio: Hanoverton, Kent, Salem
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North Carolina-New Bern, Emerald Isle
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If you don't want to make any mistakes, don't get out of bed in the morning--My father. Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school. Einstein
img_2384.jpgFinding Meaning in Life.
The one book that I have read and re-read the most often in my life is: Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl. While in the concentration camps, he observed so many of his fellow prisoners finding meaning in their lives despite horrendous circumstances. I have re-read the book at least a dozen times, and each time I feel a deep sense of wonder in the selflessness of the indomitable human spirit.
Facing horrendous confinement and extreme torture, the inmates nonetheless rejoice in the beauty of nature; their hearts are lifted by a single pure note from a bird, or the compassion of a fellow prisoner who shares his last crust of bread with someone more emaciated than he is. Being aware of the smallest positive moments sustains them through the misery of their daily lives and reminds them that although the Germans may wrack their bodies, they will never control their minds or their spirits. Each of us has the power to create our own existence within the external circumstances where we find ourselves. How often do we moan and complain about some minor inconvenience, forgetting to feel gratitude for the miracle of life itself? How we see the our daily lives, the world at large, and how we relate with others defines not only define who we are but what our lives are and will become.
Whenever I am going through a difficult time or simply feeling sorry for myself, I am inspired by another reading of this book. I mention it here hoping, that it will help someone else as it has transformed me over the years
"We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way."
"It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life—daily and hourly. Our answer must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual."
"Man is capable of changing the world for the better if possible, and of changing himself for the better if necessary."
You are so right, this is an exceptional book. My copy is 20 years old and is worn and torn since I refer to it all the time.
Regards,
RAM
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