Friday, November 7, 2008

The Last of the Human Freedoms

Man can preserve a vestige of spiritual freedom, of independence of mind, even in such terrible conditions of psychic and physical stress. 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 offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken away 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 way.

The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity—even in the most difficult circumstances—to add a deeper meaning to life.

- Viktor Frankl

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