The Last of the Human Freedoms

In this thoughtful commentary, Viral Mehta, of the Huffington Post, reflects on the importance of choice. She writes, "I distinctly remember my parents telling me to “introspect” after any significant mistakes I made… As I reflect now, I realize that the word literally means to look within, to really experience the effects of our choices, the consequences of our actions. This is the essence of practical wisdom: to understand through direct experience, which actions, decisions, and intentions add to well-being, and which ones don’t." Mehta explains that true freedom lies in choice — this is one of the core insights in the writings of Viktor Frankl, a psychiatrist who was imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp. Frankl described it best himself: “We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.”

The Daily Good, 12/31/2012