In a 1979 interview, psychiatrist, Holocaust survivor, and author Viktor Frankl lamented the aimlessness of my generation as we struggled to find our place in the world. I am currently 63 years old, and as I look around, I recognize how few in my age group have heeded Frankl’s counsel.
Frankl recognized that we were pampered. All of our physical needs were met and there was no need to struggle. We became what musician and poet Richard Hell called “The Blank Generation.”
The reason for our listlessness is what Frankl referred to as “the unheard cry for meaning.” He indicates that power, prestige, pleasure and comfort do not satisfy a person’s fundamental need “to find and fulfill a meaning in his life, or for that matter, in each single life situation confronting him. If there is a meaning to fulfill, if he is aware, if he becomes cognizant of such a meaning, then he’s ready to suffer, he’s ready to offer sacrifices, he is ready to undergo tension, stress and so forth, without any harm being done to his health.”
I recognize that I am one of the fortunate people of my generation who was able to embrace the unprecedented privilege I was handed and find something that is meaningful, something to live for. But where do we find this meaning?
American Vice President JD Vance claims to understand the concept of ordo amoris, the order of love, expressed by the 13th-century philosopher and theologian Thomas Aquinas. “You love your family, and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens in your own country, and then after that you can focus on and prioritize the rest of the world.”
I have never lived according to that ideal. In fact, to me, it sounds incredibly selfish and ethnocentric. Of course, I love my children and would do anything for their well-being and safety. At the same time, I understand that every loving parent in the world wants the same for their children. I also want to create a world where every child has the same ability to grow up in safety and freedom, to have enough food to eat and the opportunity for a great education that my children have had. Trying to create this world, regardless of how elusive and idealistic it appears, has brought tremendous meaning and joy to my life.
Another person of my generation who does not appear to have succumbed to meaninglessness expressed a similar perspective. In response to Vance’s questionable interpretation, Pope Leo XIV said, “The true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the ‘Good Samaritan’ (cf. Lk 10:25-37), that is, by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.”
There is a special quality in a person who lives with meaning. As Frankl articulated, she is ready to offer sacrifice, to undergo hardship and tension, criticism and persecution and yet maintain an inner calm and peacefulness. Many in the Western establishment, for example, seem confounded by the persistence of the pro-Palestine movement. Despite being arrested, losing their jobs, or being labeled as hateful racists, millions continue to protest. They all seem to understand that they are a part of something essential that is much bigger than themselves.
As an educator, I recognize the importance of Frankl’s message for my students. He states, “What young people need are ideals and challenges.”
I try to convey to each student that they are a unique and amazing gift. Our sad and broken world is in much need of their goodness. It is my greatest hope that, in the decades to come, they too will be able to look back on their lives and recognize the meaningfulness of their efforts.
Gerry Chidiac is an award-winning high school teacher specializing in languages, genocide studies and work with at-risk students. Check out his website here. Find him on Facebook. Or on Twitter @GerryChidiac
4 thoughts on “OPINION: Viktor Frankl and the Blank Generation”
Virtually no one has been arrested or lost their job for being “pro-Palestine”, or, more accurately, anti-Israel. The few who have were arrested not for their views but for such things as harassing passers-by, blocking public property, harassing those perceived to be Jews, violating their legal and ethical obligations by announcing that they will refuse to provide medical care to Jews or even kill them, or making threats of violence. It is the in-thing to be anti-Israel these days. They aren’t martyrs.
Not to you, but to billions of others they are.
There isn’t a shred of evidence that billions of people are so foolish as to believe that people doing the popular thing at no risk to themselves are martyrs.
I agree with Mr. Poser’s comment. These protesters are just jumping on the newest version of the popularized “Jew-hate”. If they truly wanted to join a meaningful movement they would be protesting the war in Russia/Ukraine, Sudan, Somalia, Myanmar, and the Sahel region, Yemen, Syria, Dr. Congo, the massive human rights infractions in Iran, Saudi, China, N. Korea, Gaza…. It just shows that they have been smoked screened to play puppet to the billion $ funders of terror.
Yet again, the author, Mr Chidiac, can’t help but bring up Israel, showing his true obsession. It’s really concerning.
Frankle went through extraordinary hardship to understand how fortunate he was to have lived through that and survived and yet find meaning in life’s small pleasures. This is very different then spoilt university kids and a internet warriors pushing hateful propaganda and causing mass death.