My husband and I are reading a book together. I am reading it aloud. He is listening intently. We are discussing it as we go. I remember hearing about it not long after it was published again in 1992. It was first published in 1962. The book is called “Man’s Search for Meaning” by Viktor Frankl. Every person on the planet should at the very least read this book from the library. However, I think  it would be best to purchase a copy so the powerful passages may be marked and, more importantly, so the pages of this book can be turned again and again as one re-reads it to pick up messages missed in prior readings.

In the forward by Harold S. Kushner, he writes, “Frankl saw three possible sources for meaning: in work, in love, and in courage during difficult times.” Kushner shares that Frankl’s most enduring insight: “Forces beyond your control can take away everything you possess except one thing, your freedom to choose how you will respond to the situation.”

Like Frankl says, we cannot control what happens to us in life, but we can always control what we will do about what happens to us.

Vicktor’s story of time spent, against his will, in the concentration camps in Germany is a remarkable story of courage displayed while being forced to live through unimaginable circumstances. It was during this awful time of existence that he came to the understand that “The salvation of man is through love and in love.”

He and his wife were separated when taken by the German’s and forcefully sent to the concentration camps. He had no idea if she was alive or dead, but he thought of her and pictured her face and clung to life because of the love he felt for her. He wrote, “I understood how a man who has nothing left in this world still may know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of his beloved.”

The message(s) in this book is/are powerful and encouraging to anyone facing challenges in life. It may be poor timing for my husband that we happen to be reading this book at this time. My husband is in the hospital following a knee surgery, his 9^th knee surgery in total, but only the 5^th on this knee. Anyway, as I hear the expressions about the discomfort he is feeling, I can’t help but remind him, “Yes, that may be true, and I am sorry you are uncomfortable, but at least you are not in a concentration camp.” The look he gives me is a clear indication of his wish that we had not started reading this book prior to this surgery. I just shrug my shoulders, smile, and remind him how much I love him.