"The psychologist [[Viktor Frankl]], after surviving the Nazi death camps, spoke of his surprise with the “existential vacuum” that had fallen over Europe and the Western Hemisphere. Good had prevailed over evil, technology had triumphed in the struggle over nature and want, **and yet no one was happy and no one had any hope**. The world, he said, was spiritually bombed out. "Yet it was because of his experiences in the Holocaust that [[Viktor Frankl|Frankl]] was not ready to despair. He posed an urgent question to all future generations: **Why did we bother to survive that awful hellscape if none of this has any meaning? What gives you the right to be so damn cynical?** --- **Tags** -- [[quotes]], [[optimism]], [[pessimism]], [[nihilism]], [[holocaust]], [[kindness]], [[progressing-slowly]], [[character]] **Source** -- [[202409180128 - B - Courage is Calling]]