Ending our third day in Ireland, we say farewell to Dublin and welcome Derry as our new venture. Today we had a professor from the Viktor Frankl Institute talk about Frankl’s Logotherapy theory and his sentence during the Holocaust. Frankl talked about the meaning to live, and to do so you must have equal shares of creations (work), experiences (love), and attitude. This modeled an idea of how the homeless live in Dublin compared with the homeless in American.

Here in Dublin you walk down the street at 2 in the afternoon and an elderly woman asks for some spare change. Automatically, and simultaneously with everyone else around you, you turn your head and act like she does not exist- as you would do in America. But then you’re walking back to your room later that night and you see that same lady sleeping in the spot where earlier she was begging for spare change.

The homeless in America stand on their corner from 9 to 5 then disappear. Half of them return to their homes and the other half lay a blanket under the Main Street bridge. Having to sleep where thousands of fellow Dubliners step over you makes you think of how they are able to continue their will to live. So, according to Frankl, you will find meaning through creation, experience, and attitude. For someone who is able to shake a cup day in and day out, they must have more than we think they do. They have what is more important than money: desire. Desire to live another day, even if it is just one day.