Personal Journal 3

AN: The first paragraph is responding to a short story about a King, and a few of his subjects in a small town who discover a silver mine. It should be easily found by googling "The Silver Mine," and then possibly by adding a few key words. The rest of it is responding to Viktor Frankl, and "Man's Search for Meaning."

          I’ve chosen to respond to the prompt regarding the silver mine. I believe that the parson was correct in asserting the village was better off without the silver mine. It introduced vast amounts of money at one time, into what was formerly a rather simplistic society. If it had been tin or something worth vastly less, it probably wouldn’t have been a problem. It would’ve provided a reward for hard work, rather than the virtually free money a silver mine would provide. This encouraged both slothfulness and greed. Greed is the base of many sins, including anger, which was also introduced. The silver mine tore the people apart, and made them much worldlier than they had been before. The parson was correct in determining that their simple, poor lifestyle kept them humble and happy.

            I strongly support Frankl’s assertion that the last of human freedoms is the freedom to choose one’s attitude. Humanity has been gifted with agency – the ability to choose. We do not function by instinct, but by logic, by choice! Most of the time, we have basic choices – when to work, when to sleep, etc. However, Frankl had no choices. He had to do what he was forced to, or die. Despite this, he still retained his agency. He still had two sets of options: first, he could choose not to follow the commands given him and die, and, second, he could choose how he endured his ordeal. And while at times he could not keep up a positive disposition, who could blame him? Sometimes choices are extremely hard for us to make. Regardless, we must always strive to choose to make the best of things. Optimism and idealism are truly powerful – they enlighten and strengthen, as opposed to despair and hopelessness, which enslave and cripple. No matter how much we’ve had taken from us, how much we’ve endured, we can always choose to smile. We should always choose to be the happiest we can be.