Ross I.

Deonte
Faith, Religion, & Society Friday
November 7, 2021

Life, Death, and Everything In-between

First, I would like to have a moment of silence for all eleven million people who died in the

Holocaust. Rest in peace to each person who has a loved sister, brother, father, son, mother,

uncle, aunt, grandmother, grandfather, niece, nephew, cousin, and friend. I will never forget

you. I was moved to great sadness reading Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning, although I

did not suffer as Frankl suffered, I felt the terror and horror of Auschwitz through his words. But

as I read each page, I began to see a story less about sadness and more about a wide array of

emotions. Man’s Search for Meaning is a story about courage when faced with insurmountable

odds. Viktor Frankl tells a tale about what it means to take ultimate responsibility for one’s life. I

learned the meaning of love, life, suffering, and tragic optimism. It’s my goal to use everything I

learn from reading Man’s Search for Meaning and logotherapy, my (search) meaning in life, and

apply it to my future. My greatest loss accords June 2018, with the death of my grandfather.

Unlike the gas chambers, similarly, death comes to us all and with-it great suffering. I am

reminded of this suffering when reading Praying with Elizabeth Seton. She suffered great loss

throughout her life, yet she persevered. Frankl beautiful states, “We must never forget that we

may also find meaning in life even when confronted with a hopeless situation when facing a fate

that cannot be changed (p 111).” I understand that as I grow older, I will suffer more loss, that’s

just the nature of living. Although this suffering will bring me low, courage and love will bring

me high. If I may quote Jackie Wilson, “Your love, keeps liftin’ me higher and higher”. That’s

what love means to me. Love is my favorite word, so when Frankl explains the meaning of love I

was glued to the page. To fully understand my family or my opponents I must love them.
Ross I. Deonte
Faith, Religion, & Society Friday
November 7, 2021

Corinthians 13:1-8. I promise to have the courage to love and be loved, this will help me see

that which is potential in him, and which is not yet actualized but ought to be actualized. I have

never read about the horrors of Auschwitz from a first-person perspective. What Viktor Frankl

speaks about in the first chapter, Experiences in a Concentration Camp, instructed me to my

core. Fifteen hundred persons traveling on a train, not as passengers but as cattle. Once they

saw the sign “Auschwitz,” the gas chambers, crematoriums, and massacres were nearby. Liquor

was supplied to numb the pain. Yet, in these moments of despair, Frankl found courage.

Courage to hide his haversack and not to “run to the wire.” I hope to never have to use courage

to hide my haversack, but I hope to have the courage to be better than I was yesterday. I am

responsible for my future self. After reading Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning,

existentialism is what I’ll take from his story. Frankl calls it logotherapy and it focuses rather on

the future on the meanings to be fulfilled by the patient in his future. The search for meaning as

a guide for one’s future is poetic. If I can imagine it then I can strive for it. It is whatever I want it

to be. “Man’s search for meaning is the primary motivation in his life and not a “secondary

rationalization” of instinctual drives. This meaning is unique and specific in that it must and can

be fulfilled by him alone; only then does it achieve a significance that will satisfy his own will to

meaning. (p 99)” Lastly, “Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer

to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual (p 77).”

Currently, I face a huge challenge in my life. How do I manage to be a father of two, a husband,

a worker, and a student? I love being a father, it’s an honor to dedicate my life to lifting two

wonderful humans, so they may stand on my shoulder and reach the star. But being a father
Ross I. Deonte
Faith, Religion, & Society Friday
November 7, 2021

takes time. I am honored to be beloved by a wife of thirteen years, it is my duty to encourage

the best in her. But being a husband takes time. I enjoy working to reap the seeds that I sow. But

work takes time. I relish in the task to learn something new and revel in the challenge. But being

a student takes time. My woos may not measure up to the definition of the “tragic triad,”

circumscribed by pain, guilt, and death, but I will use tragic optimism to overcome my

difficulties.

References

Frankl, Viktor E. Man's Search for Meaning. Beacon Press. Kindle Edition.