The Search for Meaning1

“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.” – Viktor Frankl

Viktor Frankl was an Austrian psychiatrist who survived four different Nazi concentration camps, including Auschwitz and Dachau, during World War II.

Frankl and his fellow prisoners had to endure atrocities that many of us cannot even imagine. Prisoners had to survive on one meager piece of bread per day and possibly some thin soup, too. They had to perform 20 hours of hard work, such as digging and laying railroads, each day. If you looked weak, you were beaten. If you stopped working, you were beaten. You could be killed for any reason at any time. Not only was Frankl subjected to forced labor and torture, he had to watch his family, friends and fellow prisoners get executed or worked to death by the Nazi camp guards.

After American soldiers liberated Frankl’s concentration camp near the end of the war, Frankl returned home where he wrote a book about the life of a concentration camp inmate from the perspective of a psychiatrist. He titled his book Man's Search for Meaning. It is a powerful book that offers many moving stories and lessons about what it means to be human, the importance of mental resilience and attitude, and the need for love and compassion. Here are two examples of lessons learned from Man’s Search for Meaning that each of us can benefit from.

Have a sense of purpose – know your ‘why’ Frankl kept himself alive by developing a purpose: to prevent other prisoners from committing suicide. He did this by helping others discover their own sense of purpose – a reason for living. He encouraged one man to survive in order to see his daughter who was safely living in another country. He encouraged another, whose family had been killed or died, that he must return to his profession to complete the work he had begun. Having a purpose kept these people going and ultimately, alive.

Choose your attitude There is only one thing that cannot be taken away from you, your attitude. Frankl explained, “The one thing you can’t take away from me is the way I choose to respond to what you do to me. The last of one’s freedoms is to choose one’s attitude in any given circumstance.” In the concentration camps, Frankl observed how the Nazi troops would dehumanize the prisoners. They would torture, humiliate, insult, beat, and degrade the prisoners. The suffering had no bounds and it was hell on earth for those in the concentration camps. Many of them gave up and died. Those who survived owed it to one thing: they did not allow the guards to beat away their positive attitudes. They did not give up hope that one day they would leave the prison alive.

1 A product of the SAVHS Athletics Department. Inspiration from Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning.

Ideas from Life Advise from Viktor Frankl, The Art of Manliness and Man's Search for Meaning : 6 Lessons That

Will Make You Think, greatperformersacademy.com.

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“A human being is a deciding being.” - Viktor Frankl

[Ask] What impact does a positive attitude have on your life? When things get difficult for you, what strategies do you use to positively influence your attitude?

[No matter how hard life gets, do not allow the bad times to take your good attitude away from you.]

How does your attitude impact your relationships and team dynamics?

What gives meaning to your life – what is your ‘why’?