Story (Nelson Mandela): Nelson Mandela was convicted of conspiracy to overthrow the State of South Africa and sentenced to life in prison. Living in a tiny cell on the inhospitable Robben Island, with a bucket for a toilet, he toiled long hours in a blazing hot quarry by day. He was allowed one visitor a year, and for only thirty minutes. This experience transformed him as he kept his focus on bearing his situation with dignity, using his charm and intelligence to become a leader of his comrades in prison. After 27 years in prison, he emerged from these trials to lead South Africa to democracy. Many call him the Father of the Nation – Madiba or Tata. He kept his mind active, studying law at night. In focusing on leading others, he found something to live for: he stayed hopeful. Nietzsche said: "He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how"**. When I have travelled in the past and people ask me where I am from, when I say South Africa, they always ask about Madiba. The last time was when he was ill in hospital. In an airport, I stopped a cleaner to ask where the public phones were. He asked me: "How is Madiba, we hear he is sick?"

Story Essence: We can see in the story of Nelson Mandela that, if we have a why to live for, we can go through almost any circumstance that doesn't kill us. Madiba is an example to all of us that no matter how hard things are, we can always find ways to create meaning and hope. It is clear that we all yearn for something to live for, to give meaning to our lives. It is this ineffable 'something', our yearning for meaning, our yearning to find a why, that motivates us, that energises and animates our lives.

Specific Action: Think about your own 'why'. What is it that makes your own life worth living right now? Write down your thoughts.

When you find it, you'll realise that the yearning created by a need to fulfil that purpose will far outweigh the pain that you're going through. Tomorrow we will consider the meaning we can find from life.

**"He [who] knows the 'why' for his existence ... will be able to bear almost any 'how'". Viktor Frankl (1905–1997), in Man's Search for Meaning (1946), was likely quoting Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) from his Twilight of the Idols, or How to Philosophize with a Hammer (1889): "If we have our own why in life, we shall get along with almost any how". Or: "If we have our own why in life, we shall get along with almost any how." Twilight of the Idols, Maxims & Arrows, #12. Variant translation: "He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how".

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