An observation
The other day I was looking for a reference related to Viktor Frankl. Viktor Frankl spent three years in the Auschwitz concentration camp during WWII. Most of his family, including his wife died in the camps. He is known as the father of logotherapy. He relates on experience in which all of the prisoners were ordered to completely strip. As he stood naked, he realized that even though someone could take everything away from him, down to his nakedness, he still possessed the power of choice. He could choose how he would respond and act in a given sittuation. You can read about his prison camp experience in the book, "Man's Search for Meaning."
What I was looking for is unimportant for the purposes of this post, but I continued to surf the net and blog hop. I visited Al's Blog and came across an amusing article he linked to on Ann's Blog about Sarah Jessica Parker. The gist of the article is Sarah dresses the way her two year old wants her to because it makes him happy and because, "He is the center of our lives."
In a few minutes of surfing I had gone from reading about someone with a great mind, who had contributed to our knowledge and understanding of human behavior to reading about a silly, shallow, actress who is confused about good parenting skills and self-pleasure.
The experience got me thinking about what our society holds dear, pays attention to, and ultimately honors. We give credit and attention to the shallow ones. The ones who do outrageous things, who have lots of money, who thumb their noses at the rules, and who go out of their way to be weird.
People like Viktor Frankl give away treasure. Still, society seems to rush by these treasures to grab for the "fools gold" of the celebrity de jour.
For the sake of balance, why not add some real treasure into your life. You could start by reading an interview Frankl granted at age 90.
Throughout my life, I have been blessed to be around people who gave away the treasure of their knowledge. My parents, my grandfather, teachers, and others. They will never be famous or known by millions, but that does not diminish their worth or importance.
One could become disheartened and say "Society runs after vanity and ignores what is important, woe is us." I, on the other hand, take heart. The world is full of good folks who freely give their knowledge and wisdom to those who are inclined to listen and learn. There is a lot of good news going on too, but the media will always push it to the back to show the bad stuff.
I have decided to re-read some books like Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning." I liked how I felt after reading the interview. It was like a conversation with my grandfather. It was reassuring. That reassurance is necessary when we have parents dressing in yellow clown suits just to make their two year olds happy and proudly proclaim their ignorance in the press.
Until the next time
John Strain