One year in Britain, the prizes awarded to Boy Scouts for highest accomplishments went to three boys hospitalized with incurable diseases who nevertheless remained brave and cheerful throughout. This is just one small example of how suffering heroically is considered to be an accomplishment.
We can see from this that suffering is part of life, and that since there is more than one way to suffer, suffering offers an opportunity for something.
There are accomplishments you can attain only through suffering, which cannot be attained any other way. People facing life-threatening situations have found strengths they never knew they had.
One woman who was dying in a concentration camp felt that having been pampered her whole life, she had taken life for granted, and now from her sick bed she noticed the flowering of a tree that to her spoke of eternal life. This gave her a sense of gratitude that she had never before felt.
I always think about the soldier whose parachute got tangled up in his officer’s parachute. Quickly assessing that the choice was between him falling or both of them falling together, he cut the parachutes loose and fell to his death.
You cannot demonstrate how brave you are in bearing your pain if you’re not in pain. You cannot demonstrate your capacity for sacrifice until you’re in a position demanding sacrifice.
Obviously we’re only talking about unavoidable suffering. You should never intentionally inflict pain on yourself as a way to find meaning, because doing that would not be meaningful. The first task is to see if there is any way possible to alleviate pain and to take away suffering.
However, unavoidable suffering is part of life. There are times when something is completely beyond your control. What are you going to do then? How are you going to suffer? Logotherapy helps people in those situations to see suffering as an opportunity, and to be capable of suffering in a meaningful way. (111-116)