Why the Nicest People Suffer the Most

All suffering finds meaning through sacrifice.  This is one of the tenets of logotherapy, a theory developed by Viktor Frankl, the psychiatrist who survived a Nazi concentration camp.  I'm reading his book Man's Search for Meaning, and it's greatly changing my perspective on life.  It's helped me realize why the nicest people tend to suffer the most.  It's because they generally sacrifice their happiness for others, enduring their sufferings for the sake of people they love, even strangers- though this is rarer. 

Meaning for Frankl meant living through torture to bring love and knowledge (his books) to those who would be waiting for him after the war.  He also found solace in the fact that he was suffering in someone else's place.  Suddenly it made sense to me why Christians always say, "Jesus died for our sins".  Like Frankl, he gave his body up for other people.  If it weren't for him, another innocent person would have taken his place, possibly a much weaker one who wouldn't have endured it as well.  More importantly, and this is according to the mythology, he gave up his body so all mankind could live eternally in heaven with God. 

We suffer for the people we love most.  Some of us even suffer for those we don't know, seldom realizing how spiritually benevolent and selfless we'd been all along.  If you want to make a difference or are asking yourself if there's any meaning in life, or why it's all worth it, look no further.  The answer lies in self-sacrifice, for the betterment of mankind.