The world lost a hero over the weekend.  People I know and care about, my friends, lost an integral part of their family.

He was a good man, a great man – part of “The Greatest Generation”.  He fought for his country in WWII, and brought home his war bride from Russia by way of Germany.  They built a marriage we could all learn from for more decades than many of us have been alive.  He raised a family.  His grandsons are good men who are raising boys who will undoubtedly grow up to be good men.  They are part of his legacy, ‘the full granaries of the past into which he has brought the harvest of his life,’ to paraphrase Viktor Frankl.

As human beings, we all face death – our own in time, and of those we care about through our lives – yet, we still aren’t always that good at consoling the bereaved, or in dealing with loss ourselves.  Often times, the words just aren’t there, or they come out as flat or cliche.

Pain.  Guilt.  Death.  Frankl’s “Tragic Triad” – the suffering inherent to human life that we will all face.  That suffering which we can choose to face meaningfully, or that we can allow to manifest itself as anxiety, depression, and existential angst.

A few of my favorite thoughts on leading a meaningful life and facing the transitoriness of life:

“That’s why we are here, to make a dent in the universe” – from artist & author Hugh Macleod

Perhaps one of my favorite statements on the matter, “Life is to short not to do something that matters.  Linchpin.”  – from Seth Godin.

The Stoic philosophers often discussed “Memento Mori” – the idea of living today mindful that you too will, someday, die.

Of course, Frankl’s thoughts on the topic are some of the most profound:

“And yet, is not this transitoriness a reminder that challenges us to make the best possible use of each moment of our lives?  It certainly is, and hence my imperative: Live as if you living for the second time and had acted as wrongly the first time as you are about to act now.

In fact, the opportunities to act properly, the potentialities to fulfill a meaning, are affected by the irreversibly of our lives.  But also the potentialities alone are so affected.  For as soon as we have used an opportunity and have actualized a potential meaning, we have done so once and for all.  We have rescued it into the past wherein it has been safely delivered and deposited.  In the past, nothing is irretrievably lost, but rather, on the contrary, everything is irrevocably stored and treasured.  To be sure, people tend to see only the stubble fields of transitoriness but overlook and forget the full granaries of the past into which we have brought the harvest of our lives: the deeds done, the loves loved, and last but not least the sufferings they gone through with courage and dignity.”

I can tell you, as I reread this statement from Frankl, the man we have lost exemplified all of these, and through his legacy, through what I have been blessed to witness through his life and the lives of those closest to him, I have learned a great deal about “deeds done” and “loves loved”.

Thank you for your service, and may you rest in peace.