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Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, MD
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The one thing that usually persists through all these
stages [of the dying process] is hope....Just as children … in the
concentration camp of Terezin maintained their hope years ago, although
out of a total of about 15,000 children…only around 100 came out of it
alive. |
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“…we were always impressed that even the most accepting,
the most realistic patients left the possibility open for some cure….It
is this glimpse of hope which maintains them through days, weeks, or
months of suffering. It is the feeling that this all must have some
meaning….(or) that this is just like a nightmare and not true;…It gives
the terminally ill a sense of a special mission in life which helps them
maintain their spirits;… for others it remains a form of temporary but
needed denial.” |
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I have never met a person whose
greatest need was anything other than real, unconditional love. You can
find it in a simple act of kindness toward someone who needs help. There
is no mistaking love. You feel it in your heart. It is the common fiber
of life, the flame that heals our soul, energizes our spirit and
supplies passion to our lives. It is our connection to God and to each
other. |
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We are not powerless specks of
dust drifting around in the wind, blown by random destiny. We are, each
of us, like beautiful snowflakes - unique, and born for a specific
reason and purpose. |
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How do the geese know when to fly to the sun? Who tells
them the seasons? How do we, humans, know when it is time to move on? As
with the migrant birds, so surely with us, there is a voice within, if
only we would listen to it, that tells us so certainly when to go forth
into the unknown. |
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To love means not to impose your own powers on your
fellow man but offer him your help. And if he refuses it, to be proud
that he can do it on his own strength.
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Sorrow
By Abraham Lincoln
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In this sad world of ours, sorrow comes to all,
and it often comes with bitter agony.
Perfect relief is not possible,
except with time.
You cannot now believe that you will ever feel better.
But this is not true.
You are sure to be happy again.
Knowing this,
truly believing it,
will make you less miserable now.
I have had enough experience to make this statement.
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Hope
Emily Dickenson
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HOPE is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,
And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
I ’ve heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.
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Victor
Frankl & Woody Allen
In Man's Search for Meaning,
psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Victor Frankl writes that there is
purpose in dying:The mental reactions of the inmates of a concentration
camp must seem more to us than the mere expression of certain physical and
sociological conditions. Even though conditions such as lack of sleep,
insufficient food and various mental stresses may suggest that the inmates
were bound to react in certain ways, in the final analysis it becomes
clear that the sort of person the prisoner became was the result of an
inner decision, and not the result of camp influences alone.
Fundamentally, therefore, any man can, even under such circumstances,
decide what shall become of him—mentally and spiritually. He may retain
his human dignity even in a concentration camp. Dostoevski said once,
"There is only one thing that I dread: not to be worthy of my sufferings."
These words frequently came to mind after I became acquainted with those
martyrs whose behavior in camp, whose suffering and death, bore witness to
the fact that the last inner freedom cannot be lost. It can be said that
they were worthy of their sufferings; the way they bore their suffering
was a genuine inner achievement. It is the spiritual freedom—which cannot
be taken away—that makes life meaningful and purposeful.
An active life serves the purpose of giving man the opportunity to realize
values in creative work, while a passive life of enjoyment affords him the
opportunity to obtain fulfillment in experiencing beauty, art, or nature.
But there is also purpose in that life which is almost barren of both
creation and enjoyment and which admits of but one possibility of high
moral behavior; namely, in man's attitude to his existence, an existence
restricted by external forces. A creative life and a life of enjoyment are
banned to him. But not only creativeness and enjoyment are meaningful. If
there is a meaning in life at all, then there must be a meaning in
suffering. Suffering is an ineradicable part of life, even as fate and
death. Without suffering and death human life cannot be complete.
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
under the most difficult circumstances—to add a deeper meaning to his
life. It may remain brave, dignified and unselfish. Or in the bitter fight
for self-preservation he may forget his human dignity and become no more
than an animal. Here lies the chance for a man either to make use of or to
forgo the opportunities of attaining the moral values that a difficult
situation may afford him. And this decides whether he is worthy of his
sufferings or not.
On a lighter note and in stark contrast, the writer and director Woody
Allen presents a more typical reaction to death in the 1976 film Without
Feathers: "It's not that I'm afraid to die, I just don't want to be there
when it happens."
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Albert Einstein
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A person starts to live when he can live outside himself. |
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Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own
hearts.
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Others
| "Beware how you take away hope from another human being."
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes |
| Character may be manifested in the great moments, but it is made in
the small ones.
-- Phillip Brooks |
| As for courage and will - we cannot measure how much of each lies
within us, we can only trust there will be sufficient to carry through
trials which may lie ahead.
-- Andre Norton |
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Links to More Prose
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