“Out on a limb with no place to jump”

Good morning, friends. Sometimes, when I look at what is happening on the other side of the world, I think back to when I was a kid. I loved to climb trees and once in a while I’d find myself out on a very high limb. Yes, it felt a little scary, but I could see so much more from that perspective; above the trees and our neighbors’ houses. I could even feel a slight breeze in the scorching Florida heat. But mostly, I had a sense of being so much more than my little body conveyed to the world. At age six, I must admit, I was not a very imposing figure. 

In some ways, people who go through the extremes of tragedy, particularly when they occur one after another, gain a perspective ordinarily reserved for the eagles among us. From a position of being surrounded by absolute nothingness, if only for a split second, life becomes crystal clear. It is during those times of absolute clarity that we must create meaning... a meaning that encompasses all of the events that will sustain us during our darker days. If we do not create meaning that we can live with, the tragedy may well consume us in the fires of despair. Hint: Simply repeating the tired old admonishments about the end of days is not it.... So what do I mean when I say ‘create meaning’?

In a book called “Man’s Search for Meaning,” another person was metaphorically out on a limb when he penned some of the best advice I’ve ever read.  In the 1940s, as a successful doctor, Viktor E. Frankl made a choice to stay in Europe, hoping to provide some degree of protection to his elderly parents. For unknown reasons they, along with all of his other Jewish friends and colleagues, were being rounded up and imprisoned. When Amazon Sage heard about this, she immediately wanted to dream travel back in time, not to the camps -- at least, not yet -- but to a later time in Dr. Frankl’s life, when he spoke to a large group of psychologists in San Francisco. What he said on that day, was certain to stay in the hearts and minds of all who were present, forever.

Listening quietly, it became clear to Amazon Sage that Dr. Frankl believed “our primary drive in life is not pleasure” (as Sigmund Freud seemed to think), but “the discovery and pursuit of what we personally find meaningful.” Wow. Imagine if, during this singularity event that will forever change Japan, survivors come out of it with a renewed sense of purpose and resolve. 

"But..." you might suggest, “...surely nothing Frankl experienced can possibly compare to what’s happening in Japan.” Perhaps not, but Frankl knows of what he speaks. In his own personal tsunami, he was a prisoner in four of the worst Nazi death camps, including Auschwitz. In those chambers of horror, he had to witness his family’s naked humiliation, in front of everyone; their torture, and eventually their deaths; his mother, his father, his cousins... even his pregnant wife. Yet, through it all, he managed to create meaning that he later shared with the world.

In that memorable San Francisco talk, Viktor Frankl concluded: “We cannot avoid suffering. But we can choose how to cope with it, to find meaning in it, and move forward with renewed purpose.” Frankl’s decision was to dedicate the rest of his life to sharing what he learned from those worst of times. I pray that the good people of Japan, Haiti, Ethiopia, Egypt, Libya, Pine Ridge, and anywhere in the world where people seek freedom from suffering, find peace. What about you? What meaning are you making, my friends?