“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.”
-- Victor Frankl, Man's Search For Meaning
I may not be able to chose many things in this life that affect me, but I can choose how I react to their effect. I can let things get me down if I so choose, or I can select another attitude toward the situation. That choice is mine and mine alone. I accept responsibility for my choice and take responsibility for whatever comes of that choice for it is mine and mine alone to make... or in other (better) words:
"Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather must recognize that it is he who is asked. In a word, each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible."
2 comments:
Thank you for this post. In the search for meaning of life, I find it very difficult to balance responsibility to self versus responsibility to others or to the ideals that one holds dear.
At present, I am trying to develop something that could be beneficial to others but I am held back by fear. Fear of failure, fear of ridicule, fear of being squashed or abused by those with more power and money but less creativity.
What difference does it make if one lives for themselves, to get the most toys, money, glamorous girl/boyfriends without a thought of others or to examine ones life and the responsibilities to others.
Your post is helpful to me and probably others but there is not "one thing". Nothing is ever that simple.
I am very familiar with those same fears. It's been a long struggle but slowly those fears are being mastered. Whatever actions we take, whatever decisions we make, we have to take responsibility for them. As Frankl said, this is the last fundamental freedom every person possesses. Unfortunately it's far too easy to push that responsibility off to others. Good luck, it's tough to do but its rewards are worth it.
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