If you asked me what my favorite books are, my answer would include “Man’s Search for Meaning,” by Viktor Frankl.
It is a tragic tale of what it was like in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. Frankl describes how the Nazis did everything to not only kill these Jewish men and women horrifically, but humiliate and rob them of any ounce of dignity that might remain.
Frankl, in a powerful fashion, shares that while the enemy did its best, it could not take away the will to live and have hope. It also highlighted that humans can shine, even in the worst circumstances.
Frank’s parents and pregnant wife were among the millions of men, women and children that died in these camps, but despite those tragedies and their inevitable pain, Frankl still put unbelievable suffering in a perspective that inspires readers like me today.
Of course, Frankl was not alone in those who still found signs of life in a garden of cement.
The daughter of Holocaust survivors shares that her parents had a network of friends who, like them, survived similar horrific death camps, like Frankl. You might assume that because of this past, they had a pessimistic, if not entirely dark and depressed, outlook on life; however, you would be wrong.
She shares that while growing up outside Boston, her parents would gather with friends who were also survivors of the death camps and have a party. She writes that the women would get “all gussied up” wearing their finest clothes, decking themselves out as if they were attending Cinderella’s ball. She adds that they would also gather for lavish feasts, dancing, and being merry together, “enjoying life every chance they had.”
Her father would say that’s living by being grateful to celebrate the little things. They never forgot that life was a gift the Nazi machine was not successful in taking away from them. They were determined, after the hells they endured, to say “yes” to life, despite everything.
I love the phrase “yes to life.” Frankl informs us that it was from the lyrics from a song sometimes sung by inmates at the four camps in where he was a prisoner, the notorious Buchenwald among them. The song had bizarre origins.
One of the first commanders of Buchenwald, which was built in 1937 originally to hold political prisoners, ordered that a camp song be written. Prisoners, often already exhausted from a day of hard labor and scarce food, were forced to sing the repeatedly. One survivor said we “put all our hatred” into the effort, but for others, some of the lyrics expressed hope, particularly, “whatever our future may hold, we still want to say “yes” to life, because one day, the time will come – then we will be free.”
If Buchenwald’s prisoners, tortured, overworked, and starved nearly to death, could find hope in those lyrics despite their unending suffering, Frankl asks us, shouldn’t we, who are living in a far more positive and still free society, be able to say “yes” to life despite everything this challenging journey brings us?
The enemy wants to shut you up and destroy any smidgeon of joy that might be stirring in your heart. Christians need to stop looking for paradise to be a place on earth and learn how to sing heaven’s song, even as they march through hell.
Raise the praise, sing to the Lord, and let Jesus’ light lead the way when we run out of earthly batteries to keep the place from going dark.
Every day of radiation treatment, I look for songs to sing, people to love, souls to encourage, and happenings of hope that God’s promises still assure a glorious future for us. Our hope is not built on earth’s humble but unpredictable shores. It is found in the hands of the One who never lets us go.
Through the calm and storms, we have a reason to breathe, so don’t be suppressed by those without the right or authority to steal your voice.
ED. NOTE: The author is the senior pastor of The Lighthouse Church, 1248 Route 9 South, Court House.
