Letter To My Parents

Dear Mom and Dad,
             Eighteen years I have come to know you both as my mother and father. I often call you "Ma" or "Pa" as my own way of referring to you. Kinda like terms of endearment. It's not often that I tell either of you that I love you. I guess it's kinda embarrassing for me to express affection to my parents. But I really do love you both. Needless to say, without you I wouldn't be here today. Your support and love through the years has done great things. You've never been super strict nor easygoing. I think that you've been the perfect kind of parents. You always believe in me and let me work at my pace. Sure sometimes things can get bumpy but we always smooth it out in the end. I truly believe that you've been amazing parents even if dad works every day until midnight. Even if mom is always tidying things up. Because when we're all together, we share laughs and smiles. The jokes we share and the stories you tell are always great. It's little things like those that I appreciate. I don't think I could ever articulate something like this to you in person. Maybe because of some dumb pride in me that says I can't be lovey dovey with my parents. Or maybe that I would have to translate this all into Spanish. I just don't know. But I think you know that I love you. I'm proud to be your son.
                                                                                                             

Frankl-y Speaking

I find Frankl's belief in a search for meaning admirable. I find it inspiring that although he had to suffer through the horrors of a concentration camp, he was able to hold onto what he found meaningful in his life and emerge alive from the camp. He didn't lose hope in his life and kept all that was meaningful to him close in spirit. He was motivated to remain moralized and I find that amazing. I would find it very difficult to remain inspired by the things that are or were meaningful to me after being placed in a tragic situation. The will to meaning is very interesting to me. In "The Meaning of Life", Frankl writes "Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life to carry out a concrete assignment which demands fulfillment. Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated. Thus everyone's task is as unique as is his specific opportunity to implement it." There is no universal meaning to life but rather each individual has their own meaning to their own life. They must find it for themselves by searching for the things in their life that are meaningful to them. I find that inspiring because it feels to me that nothing but yourself can dictate your life. There is no universal meaning to be striving for but rather there are the things that are valuable to you. You are your own person with your own meaning and reason for living. In "The Psychiatric Credo", Frankl writes "An incurably psychotic individual may lose his usefulness but yet retain the dignity of a human being." The fact that he views someone that has been labeled as "psychotic" as a human being is admirable and I find Viktor Frankl a very admirable and respectable man.