“The meaning of life, we have said, is not to be questioned but to be responded to, for we are responsible to life.  It follows from this that the response should be given not in words, but in acting, by doing.  Moreover, the correct response depends upon the situation and the person in all his concreteness.  The response, so to speak, must have incorporated that concreteness into itself.  The right response will therefore be an active response within the actual conditions of everyday living, with the area of human responsibility.

With that area every man is indispensable and irreplaceable.  We have already discussed the importance of the individual’s being conscious of his uniqueness and singularity.  We have seen the reasons why exististential analysis works toward bringing responsibility to consciousness, and how consciousness of responsibility arises above all out of awareness of a concrete task, a “mission.”  Without perception of the unique meaning of his singular existence, a person would be numbed in difficult situations.

Every occupation allows for this, so long as the work is seen in the proper light.  The indispensability and irreplaceability, the singularity and uniqueness issue from the person, depend on who is doing the work and on the manner in which he is doing it, not on the job itself.

• Viktor Frankl – The Doctor and the Soul