Wednesday, May 5, 2010

"I am grateful that fate has hit me so hard."

I'm currently reading "Man's Search For Meaning" by Viktor Frankl. He was a clinical psychologist and Holocaust surviver who wrote a short manuscript of his memoirs about his life in concentration camps and his psychological/spiritual conclusions on his experiences. It's a world-renowned book and an absolutely astonishing read. I would like to share with you all a short passage from it:

It is a simple story. There is little to tell and it may sound as if I had invented it; but to me it seems like a poem.

A young woman knew that she would die in the next few days. But when I talked to her she was cheerful in spite of this knowledge. "I am grateful that fate has hit me so hard," she told me. "In my former life I was spoiled and did not take spiritual accomplishments seriously." Pointing through the window of the hut, she said, "This tree here is the only friend I have in my loneliness." Through that window she could see just one branch of a chestnut tree, and on the branch were two blossoms. "I often talk to this tree," she said to me. I was startled and didn't quite know how to take her words. Was she delirious? Did she have occasional hallucinations? Anxiously I asked her if the tree replied. "Yes." What did it say to her? She answered, "It said to me, 'I am here--I am here--I am life, eternal life.' "

1 comment:

Lauren said...

I'd like to borrow that when you're done.