Construction Workers are Committing Suicide at an Alarming Rate & RFK Jr. has Proven Himself Not Fit for Politics
Construction Workers are Committing Suicide at an Alarming Rate & RFK Jr. has Proven Himself Not Fit for Politics
What I’m Discussing Today:
Kareem’s Daily Quote: Viktor Frankl helps us in our search for meaning.
Robert F Kennedy Jr promises to not ‘take sides’ with respect to 9/11 if elected president: It’s no wonder the Kennedy family has rejected this intellectual reject.
A bench and a grandmother’s ear: Zimbabwe’s novel mental health therapy spreads overseas: A sympathetic, non-judgmental ear can work wonders.
Construction workers are dying by suicide at an alarming rate: When 6,000 people in the same profession kill themselves in one year, we need to do something quickly.
Kareem’s Video Break: Never has the idea of “alternate facts” been cuter. Of course, if you’re still using them as an adult, you’re a crook.
Cyclist fined for kissing wife during Tour de France: He broke the rules—and we’re better for it.
Book about book bans banned by Florida school board: The secret agenda behind conservative book bans is revealed.
Jack Black Sings “Let’s Get It On”: In this clip from the movie High Fidelity, Jack Black does Marvin Gaye’s classic justice.
Kareem’s Daily Quote
What is to give light must endure burning.
Viktor Frankl (1905-1997), Austrian neurologist, psychologist, philosopher, and Dachau survivor
Before discussing the quote, I want to give some context involving Viktor Frankl. I was talking to a recent college grad a couple of weeks ago and mentioned Viktor Frankl’s internationally bestselling book Man’s Search for Meaning. Though she was an English literature major and graduated with honors, she had never heard of Frankl or his book. I was shocked, as I usually am when important thinkers seem to be swept under the rug of popular culture. Frankl’s book (published in 1946 in Germany and 1959 in the U.S.) uses his experiences as a concentration camp prisoner to explore how people struggling with adversity, loss of dignity, and helplessness find meaning in life. It’s an insightful book that helps articulate our daily doubts and helps us find a way forward.
In the book, Frankl discusses the idea of freedom, which we Americans are obsessed with ranting about. We often talk about freedom and the way children discuss it when rebelling against their parents. They think it means the ability to do whatever they want whenever they want. Technically, it does mean that, but socially, morally, and in terms of personal happiness, it doesn’t mean that at all. Frankl believed that “Freedom is but the negative aspect of the whole phenomenon whose positive aspect is responsibleness.” And so he recommended that the U.S. build a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast to supplement the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast. It may sound like a whimsical idea, but as you can see from the artwork above, a statue was commissioned and a location was approved in 2023 in Utah.
Part of my discussion of today’s quote is a lament that Frankl’s wisdom may be set adrift on an ice floe along with other great thinkers (Simone de Beauvoir, Jiminy Cricket, etc.). Hopefully, the Statue of Responsibility will encourage some to read his book.
The other part of my discussion—FINALLY!—is the quote itself. It is an acknowledgment that burning, which is pain and suffering we all experience, can become a source of enlightenment leading us to joy. The catch is that the person must learn how to process that pain and suffering, how to understand it, and then use it to forge ahead. Insight isn’t automatic. It takes some work, some thinking, and some discussing. Just because someone travels the world doesn’t make them any better at understanding people or cultures than the person who reads about them from home. It requires distilling that experience into insight, not just an intellectual slideshow of experiences without meaning.