HOPE BRINGS SURVIVAL
Viktor Frankl, Austrian psychologist, survived death camps of Nazi Germany. Frankl was determined to know why some survived and some did not. He looked at several factors: health, vitality, family, survival skills, intelligence. He concluded that none of these factors was primarily responsible. But the single most significant factor was a sense of future vision--the conviction that they had a mission to perform, some important work left to do. Survivors of POW camps in Vietnam reported similar experiences: a compelling, future-oriented vision was the primary force that kept many of them alive.
(Source: Stephen Covey, First Things First, Contributed by: Joel Smith. From a sermon by Gary Stebbins, "2009: A Year of Purpose" 1/13/2009)