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Don't let your surroundings determine your mental state. The guys who survived the concentration camps in Germany were the ones who had found peace, meaning an
by maeon3 16y ago
Don't let your surroundings determine your mental state. The guys who survived the concentration camps in Germany were the ones who had found peace, meaning and value in their lives even in the worst condition imaginable. Practice being happy for no other reason then choosing to be happy. I'll add years to your life.
- Kototama 16y agoThe guys who survived the concentration camps in Germany were the ones who had found peace, meaning and value in their lives even in the worst condition imaginable. Do you have any evidence?
- chrisoakman 16y agoVictor Frankl - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning (thank you tomedme for the URL correction)
- tomedme 16y agoCorrect wikipedia URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning
- kingkawn 16y agoUsing the holocaust to prove your self-help mantras is pretty indefensible.
- foljs 16y agoWho said that? Memoirs from survivors suggest that (as one would expect) the experience left them scarred for the rest of their lives.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- michael_dorfman 16y agoSome. Memoirs from some survivors suggest that. Memoirs from other survivors suggest otherwise. The long-term response to the trauma varied, widely.
- foljs 16y agoPoint to the memoirs from survivors that suggest otherwise...
- michael_dorfman 16y agoFrankl is the canonical example. But also telling is the portion of Spiegelman's "Maus" which tells of his release from Auschwitz, entitled "And now my troubles began..."
- kingkawn 16y agoSpiegelman's father, not him. Downvote all you want, but trying to find the positive side of of concentration camps, trying to find why you're world view is validated by anecdotes from those experiences, its really lame.
- michael_dorfman 16y agoI know it is Spiegelman's father: it is a memoir of Spiegelman Sr's experiences, as told to Spiegelman, but that's neither here nor there. The point is not that anyone is trying to find the positive side of concentration camps, as if such a thing existed. The point is that some people managed to keep their spirits intact, and, in the words of the poster above, find peace, meaning and value in their lives even in the worst condition imaginable. Is it lame to remember that even when we can't control our external circumstances, we still have some ability to control our response to those circumstances?