I've been reading a bit about Viktor Frankl this week, and about purpose, and the superiority of purpose over happiness. Other people's purpose can sometimes inspire us in ways that surprise them and us.
My aunt taught. She loved teaching speech and English. She loved speech therapy, and did a bit of it. She loved theater, and got a Masters in theater and costume design.
As she approached her 50th birthday, she started working on adding speech therapy to the curriculum at the college where she taught speech and story-telling. Bit by bit, she got others enthused about the college being able to offer a clinical speech therapy program, and a degree in the subject. Year after year, she worked with accrediting agencies, and with the administration of the college (by this time called a University), until she could see the program beginning to happen.
She could also see that, in developing higher criteria for education in speech therapy, she was no longer qualified to actually teach in the program. But, she kept working through the process, the first courses were added to the curriculum, the subject was offered as a major, and a department was funded.
When she came to her retirement, the department had its own building, professors and assistants were on staff, and the first graduates received diplomas.
She was delighted! Did she ever teach? No. Was she ever named or recognized as being integral to the program? No. Was she happy? Yes, and in a particular way. There is a kind of happiness that, as Frankl said it, ENSUES when purpose is fulfilled. It is a kind of happiness that you can't PURSUE, hoping to find a particular feeling. It is a kind of happiness that almost finds us when we are looking the other way, pouring ourselves into purpose that is worth the effort. And it is the best kind, you know.
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