Viktor Frankl (March 26, 1905-September 2, 1997), a Holocaust survivor and famous author, said this regarding his book Man's Search for Meaning: "I had wanted simply to convey to the reader by way of concrete example that life holds a potential meaning under any conditions, even the most miserable ones. And I thought that if the point were demonstrated in a situation as extreme as that in a concentration camp, my book might gain a hearing. I therefore felt responsible for writing down what I had gone through, for I thought it might be helpful to people who are prone to despair."
From a Vienna, Austria obituary dated September 3, 1997:
Frankl survived the Holocaust, even though he was in four Nazi death camps including Auschwitz from 1942-45, but his parents and other members of his family died in the concentration camps. During and partly because of his suffering in concentration camps, Frankl developed a revolutionary approach to psychotherapy known as logotherapy. At the core of his theory is the belief that humanity's primary motivational force is the search for meaning, and the work of the logotherapist centers on helping the patient find personal meaning in life, however dismal the circumstances may be.
Frankl said: "There is nothing in the world, I venture to say, that would so effectively help one to survive even the worst conditions as the knowledge that there is a meaning in one's life." According to logotherapy, meaning can be discovered by three ways: "(1) by creating a work or doing a deed; (2) by experiencing something or encountering someone; and (3) by the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering," he wrote. "We must never forget that we may also find meaning in life even when confronted with a hopeless situation," he insisted, a theory he gradually developed as a concentration camp survivor. "As such, I also bear witness to the unexpected extent to which man is capable of defying and braving even the worst conditions conceivable," he wrote.
Last night I watched an ABC report about the young woman, Jaycee Dugard, who was kidnapped and held in captivity for 18 years until she was rescued on August 26,2009 by law enforcement officials. She was abducted at 11 years of age in June, 1991 by the convicted sex offender and parolee, Phillip Garrido.
To hear Jaycee tell her story is horrifying. With all of the abuse she suffered under the manipulative and evil hands of her captors, she still managed to defy and brave the worst conditions imaginable. She gave birth to two girls during here imprisonment--fathered by Garrido, under the seemingly dismissive eye of his wife. Her daughters were 15 and 11 years old when they were rescued (she was able to school her children in math, history, English and social studies, even with her own limited 5th grade education).
All through her captivity Jaycee would look into the sky and peer at the moon, just as she and her mother did before she was stolen from her Lake Tahoe, California home. On the evening of her freedom, she and her mother, 12o miles apart, both looked into the sky at a full moon and hoped, once again, to be reunited. Just hours would pass from that upward glance until the 18 year separation between mother and daughter would finally come to an end.
Sometimes hope is all we have- maybe a dream or a sliver of purpose in life. But one thing is for sure: our despair does not go unnoticed by God. Even through the darkest days, He is there. May we look up to the sky tonight toward the moon as it shines and pray for strength. There is hope.
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