Choices...Purpose...Words...

I read an interview about Helen Handler, a holocaust survivor, with my students 

and it changed me. 

Particularly this part:

What he {Dr. Victor Frankel} wrote in The Search for Human Meaning is that there are three tools

with which you can survive any situation. One is that you have to know you have a choice. You may
not have a choice whether you live or die, but you do have a choice of how you die. The second is
that you have to have a purpose, and the third is you have to be able to write, in your mind and in
your soul, about that situation. You can make it with these tools. 

To say that Helen Handler survived a horrific nightmare is an understatement.  

The gruesome treatment she endured is beyond our understanding.

Her survival is miraculous.

Her insight to life is her gift to us. 

 I feel obligated {in a good way} to take this gift and do something about it. 

I feel like I need to recognize that I have choices in how I approach, react to and navigate my life circumstances; I am in the process of reorganizing the language and the grit surrounding my purpose, and I am trying to be more regular about how I write, 
in my mind and in my soul, about said choices and purpose.

Tragedy and survival is a part of the rhythm of the world. 

We see it daily in the news and our own lives. 

Sometimes it's like a drip, other times it's oceanic.

But no matter the scope, 

choices

purpose

and

words;

you can make it with these tools. 

{I like to think that Helen noticed things like fall foliage and reveled in its beauty, 

hence the tree pics... :)}