(Man’s Search for Meaning: Viktor Frankl 1984, 69)
I like this. The world would probably see this as heroic self-sacrifice (which it is), but Frankl refers to it as “simple mathematics”. His need to live a life that “makes sense” requires that he make the sacrifice. Better that than to live a longer, but purposeless life. This is the man who qualified for a pilot's licence when he was sixty-seven, so he didn't just talk.
I don’t want to just exist for ages and ages. I’d rather live—really live—for a shorter time, and die feeling as if I had done something worthwhile with my life.
At this stage, I’m not sure what I should be doing with my life. All I know is that I want my life to count for something and, on the day that I die, I want to be working on some new plan, not waiting for death. I don’t want just to exist as an organism that converts oxygen into carbon dioxide; I want to live until I die.
As I try to live my life without you
seeking meaning where there’s none,
I struggle to remember
all the races that we’ve won.
Suddenly, their meaning
comes burning in my soul;
And, as I struggle forward,
once again I can feel whole.
I find my completion,
I have my reward.
My existence takes on meaning
in the service of the Lord.
He’s my life,
He's my Lord,
He’s my meaning,
—my reward.
Kevin S. Weir 19 October 2014