Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl has become one of the most interesting books I've read. There are many books out there that tell about the Holocaust, but the way Frankl tells his story is unique. Not only does he tell his personal story, he explains the emotions that all the prisoners faced while they were imprisoned in the concentration camps.
The line "The best of us did not return" was a line that stood out to me because it not only stated that the ones who survived weren't the most honest people (or they had to learn how to be indecent to survive), it also stated that the best traits in humans didn't survive. If you were a man who was honest and just, your food and clothes were more than likely stolen from you and you died sooner as a result of that. The ones who survived probably forgot everything about being an honest and just person and only knew of thievery, lying, and deceit.
"An abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal" was another line that stood out to me. It's a paradox because something can't be abnormal and normal at the same time, yet it can. It's saying that acting uncommonly to something that is uncommon is fine because you have not experienced it yet. If you act like everything is fine during an abnormal situation, that's abnormal because you wouldn't act normally to something abnormal.
The book is very good so far and I'm hoping the second part is just as informative and interesting as the first.
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ReplyDeleteThe 2nd part is very informative, almost textbook like. Ultimately, I think it is a way to say to people- people that did not experience the concentration camps- that in great suffering one can find meaning and purpose. Frankl provides a way for the suffering to see the value in their lives. It may not produce happiness or fulfillness, but it will result in the realization that life is worth living.
ReplyDeleteI actually forgot to put another part in this blog post. I wanted to mention how Frankl describes the deterioration of mental and physical health when the prisoners have nothing to look forward to, or no release date. It's hard to have your life change in the blink of an eye and have to deal with it, knowing that the life you used to live may never come back. That is to say, you may never experience what you consider "normal life" again.
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