Fighting Beside Seneca

If you have not read Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning , feel free to stop here and do so. While we are certainly going through challenging times, the details of life in Nazi concentration camps (he spent time in four, including Auschwitz) provide real perspective. But the book offers more than simply perspective. Frankl was also a brilliant neurologist and psychiatrist. His daily life became a study of man at his worst, but also at his best. It was a classroom of evil & despair with every student asking, “why”? Most of us have had some kind of existential crisis at some point in our lives. We have asked the litany of questions… Who am I? Why am I here? What is the meaning of life? Or maybe it was faith found, faith questioned, faith lost, faith found again. Maybe you were convinced that you had to go “find yourself”. Whatever the case, we all want our limited time on Earth to matter. And we assume the answer is “out there” somewhere. The burden of man is that, whi...

Here we are… huddled at home, social-distancing, frequently scrubbing our hands, becoming aware of how often we touch our face, while checking our phones for the latest COVID-19 updates. If you work from home, WebEx and Zoom meetings are nothing new, but now our children may be learning that way. And some are using the same technology just to stay connected with friends. Depending upon your job, you may be working harder than ever. Or you may have much more time on your hands that you ever wanted. Some families grow closer while others crack under the financial strain. Heroes put their lives on the line, as code words are needed to get help to those in abusive relationships. Some leaders exemplify their role, while others make excuses. Some rise to the challenges. Wisdom and prudence and regard for others drive their actions. Some disgust and disappoint. As of this writing, more than 1.2 million people have been confirmed* with the virus and 68,000 have died. The government r...