From Linda Lee Greene Author/Artist
“The
pessimist resembles a man who observes with fear and sadness that his wall
calendar, from which he daily tears a sheet, grows thinner with each passing
day. On the other hand, the person who attacks the problems of life actively is
like a man who removes each successive leaf from his calendar and files it
neatly and carefully away with its predecessors, after first having jotted down
a few diary notes on the back. He can reflect
with pride and joy on all the richness set down on these notes, [and] on all
the life he has already lived to the fullest. What will it matter to him if he
notices that he is growing old? Has he any reason to envy the young people whom
he sees, or wax nostalgic over his own lost youth? What reasons has he to envy
a young person? For the possibilities that a young person has, for the future
which is in store for him? ‘No, thank you’ he will think. ‘Instead of
possibilities, I have realities in my past, not only the reality of work done,
but of sufferings bravely suffered. These sufferings are even the things of
which I am most proud, though these are things which cannot inspire envy’.” –
Viktor E. Frankl, MAN’S SEARCH FOR MEANING, pg 124-125.
December 8 – 10, 2018 was the date
of my initial reading of Frankl’s iconic book, which chronicles his experiences
as a prisoner in Nazi Concentration Camps during World War II. That December of
2018, I was at the lovely Palm Harbor, Florida home of my kid sister Susan
(Suzee) attending to her however possible in the final days of her life. She
passed twelve days after I closed the last page of Frankl’s book. I read the
book again recently and was struck anew by the paragraph cited above. The
paragraph strikes me not only because of the wisdom imparted in it, but also
because it recalls to me one of Suzee’s most endearing qualities, and one of
her most enduring qualities, as it turns out.
Suzee was an avid writer of personal
journals. Following her death, other members of my family and I sorted through
her personal effects for their appropriate dissemination. For instance, as a
voracious reader, over the years Suzee had amassed an impressive library, and
one of our tasks was to annotate in her name dozens of her books, which we
donated to the hospice facility that had seen her through her last hours. In
addition, we were astounded to find journals dating from her teenage years
right up to a month before her death. She had turned 63 only three months
before. Alongside the journals tucked away in numerous trunks and boxes was
every letter, card, and memento she had received dating from her childhood to
her final days.
Currently, this written treasure
trove of Suzee’s life is stored away in my sister Sherri’s garage. Sherri has
been going through it and separating it into individual boxes for further
distribution: a box for herself, one for me and other members of our family, as
well as Suzee’s friends. In the process, Sherri is stopping to read much of it.
“Oh, Linnie,” Sherri expresses to me over the phone. “Through Suzee’s journals
and letters, I’m reliving so much of our family history and even world history that
I had forgotten. What a legacy she has left us!” The exercise is turning out to
be a “This is Your Life” experience for Sherri, as well.
As Frankl tells us, a look back on our personal
history can fill us with pride and joy on all the richness and all the life we
have already lived to the fullest, and as Suzee shows us, the ones we leave
behind can also call to memory forgotten but nonetheless precious history we made
together and shared. That is one beautiful gift.©
Image:
Susan Renee Greene in the 1980s
#ViktorEFrankl,
#Man’sSearchForMeaning, #Journaling, #Diaries, #FamilyHistory, #FamilySaga,
#LifeAndDeath, #SusanReneeGreene
