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Branch Covidian's avatar

So spot on dear one.

I recently read on another forum, some observations of a concentration camp survivor, and he was noting that the ones that survived, had hope, hope for unfinished dreams, some imaginary goal that kept them fighting, when giving up was easier.

It was inspirational.

I went back and copied the quote, it is long but spot on.

Quote:

The Bible was my primer in jail but there was also a book called "Man's Search for Meaning" authored by Dr. Viktor Frankl.  He was a psychoanalyst who was a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp during WWII.  His book was about his observations and conclusions regarding how, why, some prisoners would survive the mental abuse and physical torture while others simply gave up and died.  Here are some of the quotes from his book that I found to be directed to me personally.

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude …

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”   He concluded that those who survived the atrocities they suffered had things that had gone unaccomplished.  An architect who had been developing plans for the highest skyscraper in the world.  A mother who was taken by the Nazis while her children were at school and she needed to tell them what happened to her, why she went missing.  Multiple examples of uncompleted plans or dreams.  “Those who have a 'why' to live, can bear with almost any 'how'.”

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MaddyBeresford's avatar

This came at the right time. I've been thinking a lot about how buying things is a form of ultimately unsatisfying self-medication during the pandemic, for so many of us.

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