Tragic Optimism (Week 8)

I think that in Victor Frankl’s “The Case for a Tragic Optimism,” he brings up quite a few thought processes that I align myself with. I have found, for myself, that a majority of the battle with every day is perspective. Because of this, I think I find myself agreeing with Frankl more. While not always easy, I think there is much value in an individual’s ability to choose their attitudes and responses to their situations and, therefore, dictating their feelings about situations. I can’t say that this works for all adversity since there are things that happen that we as people can’t just push past emotionless, like death. However, when it comes to the daily inconveniences that we face, I find it empowering to make the choice not to let things like that “get you down.” I think I find this concept so empowering because of our fundamental human right to choose our attitudes, which Frankl referenced in his writing. As we all know, we all must take on suffering in various ways, but I agree that through that suffering, we can grow and find purpose and happiness even while experiencing it, as long as we are doing our best to not let it consume us. It is when the suffering consumes you that it gains its true power over you. If you can cling to the knowledge that the circumstance is not your defining factor, but your perspective is, I think it is very freeing.