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River Reporter Thursday, September 11, 1997 EDITORIAL Three lights -- princess, saint, philosopher By TOM RUE The world lost sight of some great souls last week, who gave light through their lives and teachings. Public figures carry the psychological projections of the masses. I'm not talking, just now, of the death of loved ones, friends or neighbors, whose losses bear more personal impact.Sad word came first on August 31 that a beautiful populist royal, Diana Spencer of Britain -- was killed in a Parisian crash, leaving two sons and a grieving public. Photographers were blamed, but news soon broke that the driver of the Mercedes which carried her allegedly had a BAC beyond that which should have allowed him to walk, let alone drive. Proximate causes of the tragedy remain in dispute. Locally and globally, most that's been said about Diana extols her virtues. Yet some sneer at presumed intentions which underpinned her fine works. "My own, and only, explanation is that genuine goodness is threatening to those at the opposite end of the moral spectrum," Diana's brother reflected. Since its inception, the U.S. has eschewed royalty. But Diana was a great spirit would have been praised by our nation's founders. Detractors belittle themselves with mean-spirited carping. At another extreme are Anglicans who seek to dub her a saint. Extolled by her brother as a woman who worked magic on millions, Diana was many things to different people. But a saint? I see a maiden wounded in love who nonetheless loved life, adored her children, shared herself with the world, and died young in a speeding car driven by a drunk. Much can be learned from Diana's tales. Charity in the gutters Days later, on September 5, the world mourned the death of Agnes Gonxhe Bojaxhi, 87, born in Serbia to Albanian parents. As Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Agnes founded of the Missionaries of Charity in India, where she spent her life ministering to the poorest of the poor and earning the title "saint of the gutters" for outreach to the homeless and starving."An apostle of peace and love," was how the India's prime minister, Inder Kumar Gujral, recalled Teresa last week, comparing the aged nun to the founder of India's nation. Awarded the Nobel Prize in 1979, she was admired by people of all faiths. Claimed with pride by Catholics as one of their own -- she'll likely be canonized in Rome. Quest for meaning Finally, Viktor Frankl, 92, renowned psychotherapist and author of the best-selling "Man's Search for Meaning," died September 2 in Vienna.Frankl who, like Mother Teresa, died of heart failure, founded the theory of logotherapy, aiming to help people find meaning in life according to their circumstances. In 1942, the already world-renowned Frankl was arrested and incarcerated three years in Auschwitz and other concentration camps. His wife died in one of the camps. Credited with transforming the experiences inflicted on him by the Nazis to "a message of the fulfillment of meaning, the affirmation of life and the love of mankind," as a young schoolboy Frankl regularly corresponded with Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis. Freud influenced Frankl, but didn't determine his philosophy. Man's Search for Meaning, Frankl's most famous work, sold over 9 million copies and was named among the 10 most influential books in America by the Library of Congress. Frankl taught that humans are capable of making decisions and are responsible for them. Not at the mercy of desires or environment, people are free to relate to internal and external conditions. Extinguished or transformed? While it seems that three great lights of humanity have been darkened, another reality is that the their lessons and effects live on. Death is transformation, not extinction. Lessons exist in the lives and stories of the fairy tale princess, the saint of the Indian gutters, and the death camp psychoanalyst."We are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is" -- a line from a Kurt Vonnegut novel -- applies to the lives of these great role models, and others, for present and future generations.
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© 1985-2006, Tom Rue. All rights reserved.
