FAITH, MEANING, AND ACTION

“When the impossibility of replacing a person is realized, it allows the responsibility

which a man has for his existence and its continuance to appear in all of its magnitude” (Frankl,
pg.80). All too often we live our lives day in and day out the same. We function like cogs on a
freshly oiled wheel and go about our days processing our actions. David Foster Wallace
describes this as our hard-wired default setting. Being the center of everything you do and
operating on autopilot without applying conscious thought to the process.

How can we break the cycle and find our meaning? Frankl not only details the horrors of
living in concentration but how to flip the script. “I became so disgusted by the state of affairs
which compelled me, daily and hourly, to think of only such trivial things. I forced my thoughts
to turn to another subject” (Frankl, pg.73) Here, Frankl mentally lets his current default setting,
that of a concentration camp prisoner fall to the wayside, while he imagined himself on a
platform in a lecture hall delivering the psychology details of the concentration camp. By doing
this, he was able to rise above his current situation, and focus on his goal. For once you can
determine where you will land and what your accomplishments will be you will do whatever it
takes to get there and make it happen. This is finding your meaning.

Those that lost their lives in the concentration camps typically gave up all hope of ever
returning to life outside of camp again. They lost all hope that they would be reunited with
family, that they would ever be able to be free, and soon after, they lost their will to live. Losing
their will was like losing their meaning. They were no longer able to have faith in a future
outside of their desolate camps, and their will to live dissolved.

“Prayer can be reaching out to God verbally, or silently in our hearts. Prayer can be
listening to the movements of God’s Spirit in our lives. Without a doubt, prayer is the “breath” of
the spiritual life, and without it out faith can easily grow weak and die” (Hill, pg.63). Both Hill
and Frankl are making the same points here. We must first find our driving goal, our meaning,
our faith, and then we must nurture it. For it is not enough to simply have a goal, or a meaning,
or faith. It must be our driving force to live. “Faith can provide us with confidence, courage, and
the hope to continue on no matter what” (Hill, pg.64)
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Through the multiple readings and conversations that I have had during this course, I can
determine that life’s meaning, means something uniquely different to everyone. For me, my
immediate family is my driving force and my life’s meaning. When thinking about my daughters,
I model the type of individuals that I want them to be. Compassionate, caring, nurturing, and
hard working. I want them to find where they fit in life not by the income attached to it, but by
the way that it makes them feel. If you are compassionate, and it is your meaning, you will be
successful. Along the way, they have witnessed many hurdles that we’ve had to overcome, but
we overcome them all because of our faith in each other and God, and our passion to fulfill our
meaning and existence.

“Furthermore, by his love, the loving person enables the beloved person to actualize these
potentialities. By making him aware of what he can be and of what he should become, he makes
these potentialities come true” (Frankl, pg. 111-112). This is exactly what I am attempting to
instill in my children. I want them to find the power that drives them and encourage them to
follow their calling. I’ve always believed that people, not money, make us happy. Possessions
are just things. These material things do not give us joy or provide us with true happiness. By
finding what brings us joy, we will find our meaning. We encourage others to use their strengths
and empower those around us who need it.

“The meaning of your life is to help others find the meaning of theirs” (Frankl, pg.165).
When I became a mother, nothing else in the world mattered to me. From the day that my
daughter was born, I knew that I was going to do everything in my power to make her an
incredible human. By nurturing her, by allowing her to find her path through the world, and by
encouraging her every step of the way.

When I was little, I told my mother that I wanted to be a veterinarian. She told me that I
would have to euthanize cute animals and that it would require numerous science classes that I
would not be likely to pass. That’s the thing with children. You never know how much the words
you say to them can change their entire lives and what they think about themselves. I was
ridiculed and doubted my entire career through school, and it did not end well. I didn’t have the
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encouragement or emotional support that I desperately needed. While it seemed like trauma then,
and sometimes even now, it also allowed me to become who I am today.

I would never discourage my children from any of their dreams or give them the
impression that I didn’t have faith in what they wanted to do. My experiences, just like all of the
others we have read about thus far, have shaped who I was ultimately to become. My meaning is
to help my children and others find meaning in their lives. Power, money, and possessions do not
make for meaningful lives. I want others to find their passion just as I have.

“So many individuals do not have the education, the parental modeling, or the abilities to
gain the employment necessary to be part of an American success story” (Hill, pg.94). This is the
main idea that I continuously try to instill in my children. The little boy who is wearing the same
shirt each day to school, may not have any other options. The little girl who is acting out and is
unable to listen during class may have a learning disability that hasn’t been addressed due to a
lack of healthcare or absent parents. So many families are currently struggling to keep food on
the tables, and we are trying to help in every way that we can. We volunteer at the soup kitchens
and are part of two different programs to bring Thanksgiving dinners to families in need in our
community. We also take part in several community clean-up projects to allow them to see that
by coming together as a community we learn by doing, and we are helping our neighbors.

The lesson that I am attempting to get my children to understand is that how we live day-
in and day out is unfortunately not the same for everyone in our community. We are blessed to
not worry about food, shelter or safety, while others in our community do not have that luxury.
For us to be better we must do better. What we see as our future and within our reach, others may
only dream about. We need to empower those around us that need it the most and lift each other
up. We are here to better each other and to find meaning by being successful together.