We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that 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
I love quotes. I have pages full of them saved on my computer and as I'm sure you've all noticed, I change the quote on this blog on a weekly basis. (Every Sunday in case you're wondering when.) Many of them are like the anonymous thoughts I posted a few weeks ago - mildly interesting, witty, partly serious. Some portion of them are incredibly serious and deserving of more than a cursory reading. The above is one of those.
It is a quote from Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. Frankl was a Neurologist and Psychiatrist who spent three years in concentration camps during WWII. You can read more about him if you're interested by clicking on his name. I don't want to rehash what you can easily find elsewhere.
To choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way. There is a great deal to think about in that. Very often we (at least this part of we), think that circumstances control us. Sometimes really lousy stuff happens and it is easy to get caught up in believing that we have no control. Often we don't have much control. Other people make decisions that affect us, weather changes, planes crash, things happen. But always we can choose how we are going to view it. How we respond and deal with what happens will always be our own decision. We can cry and moan and wait to die or we can go out and share our food. And in doing that, in choosing our attitude, we find the path to choosing our own way.
Robin
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