Sometimes, having a purpose can mean the difference between life and death. Dr. Viktor Frankl was a psychiatrist in Vienna, Austria, in the 1930s and became a prisoner in Nazi prison camps during World War II. He noticed that the prisoners in the concentration camps, who faced the possibility of death every day, were able to survive starvation and torture if they felt they had a purpose for living. Those who felt they had no reason for staying alive died quickly and easily. Of the ones who lived through the death camps, nearly all had a fierce determination to see a loved one or do something important in their lives.Sometimes, having a purpose can mean the difference between life and death. Freud said that people may look different, but if they were all deprived of food, they would all behave the same. When Frankl witnessed two people faced with the identical situation in a concentration camp, he saw one crumble and give up while the other stayed strong and hopeful. He saw that people react in very different ways to the same situation, depending on their inner drives and motivations. Many prisoners told Frankl that they no longer expected anything of life. Frankl pointed out that they had it backward. He said, “Life was expecting something of them. Life asks of every individual to discover what it should be.” Purpose is what enables each of us to face difficult times and tragedies in our lives.
Posted on: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 19:45:12 +0000
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