Man's Search for Meaning

Ann Bancroft talking about reading Man's Search for Meaning (see previous post) took me back to college. I had to read that book for one of my psychology classes and loved it. It really impacted my outlook and thinking. The author, Viktor Frankl, was an Auschwitz survivor.

Also got me reminiscing about my psychology professor, Steve Farra. I took several classes from him and he was one of the best teachers I've ever had. (In college, my absolute favorites were Steve Farra, Walter Dunnett and a history teacher named Herman. Can't remember his first name.) Whatever author or school of thought we were studying with Farra, he would seek not only to teach us the content but to see the world from that school or practitioner's world view. It was like we were getting into their heads. He also had us read some great books.

One time Farra got in some trouble for making some critical remarks about Billy Graham's parenting. If I remember correctly, he was talking about how so many Christian leaders have problems with their kids. The problem wasn't with the fact that Billy Graham had been president of our school at one time or that he is so revered. The problem was that Ned Graham, one of Billy's problem kids, was sitting in the class! (I don't think Ned complained. I think someone else in the class who knew Ned was in the class complained to the administration.) I'm pretty sure Ned had settled down at that point and he was a commuting student and married, so I never got to know him, although we were a fairly small school. I always thought Farra didn't know Ned was in the class, but now that I think about it, I would bet he did know.