Personal reflections on a recent trip to Vienna, Austria, where artist Gary Lee Price met with Viktor Frankl’s widow, Eleonore ‘Elly’ Frankl, and other family members and leaders of the Frankl Institute.

November 20, 2004 Vienna, Austria 5:43 a.m.

After spending several wonderful hours visiting with Viktor Frankl’s wife, Elly, and family, I found myself waking up in the middle of the night going over our discussions about the Statue Of Responsibility. …[now that the design has been approved since receiving the commission in 1997], my head was abuzz trying to work out all the logistics and challenges of creating such a monumental work that when, hopefully finished, will truly impact and inspire the world. I picked up Viktor Frankl’s book “Man’s Search For Meaning” which was lying by my bedside and read about suffering (pages 80-86).

I started thinking about how much Viktor and I shared in common. Neither of us likes to dwell in the past and both of us not only survived our suffering but have risen above it. I thought about how, in general, people are optimists and how we gladly forget about the negative, sad and even ugly parts of life in exchange for the beautiful memories. I thought of my wife Lanea and how difficult each of the births of our four boys were for her, and yet, with each one she somehow dwelled on the joy of each child and left the suffering behind. I thought about the inconceivable suffering Viktor and the holocaust victims went through. It caused me to dredge through some of my own personal, painful experiences such as, at age 6, being awakened by gunshots and running through our apartment on the Heidelberg, Germany Army barracks, to find my mom lying in a pool of blood, having been shot 4 times with a .45 at the hands of my stepfather. I vividly remember standing over my mom and crying while she looked up at me with her beautiful green eyes but couldn’t utter a word. I remember hearing my step-father falling against the silverware drawer as he shot himself in the head. I remember that horrible, terrifying event as if it were last night. I remember the intense ache and feeling of loss as I kept asking my mothers’ friends who were taking care of me, when I would see my mom again. They couldn’t find the courage to tell me that she’d died that night, shortly after I was whisked away from her side. They kept telling me we’d be re-united soon and that she was okay in the hospital.

I remember as though it was yesterday the beatings and abuse I received for the next 5 years from my new step-brother in America who resented my intrusion into his life. I was 6, he was 12. He had witnessed an abusive father beat his mother and sister and was dealing with conflict by example. I remember being slugged in the stomach over and over until I couldn’t breath, being allowed to catch my breath only to be forced to hold up my hands high above my head to be slugged again. After several years of his abuse, I remember holding a knife to my stomach and trying to get the courage to push it hard enough to take my life so I could escape his torture. I was in 3rd grade. I remember running away that night and sleeping in a cold car. I was sure he’d kill me because I had tried to escape.

I remember being forced to steal large and small items from nearly every store in Montpelier, Idaho. I could go on and on about the various beatings and punishments, but most of all I remember from ages 6 to around 12, being colored a cold, bluish-red hue. I lived in a virtual prison. My liberation came the day my step-brother married and moved out of the house. I was then free. We have since reconciled and he was able to stop the cycle of abuse in his own family and is a wonderful father and human being.

I, like Viktor, am an optimist. There is not one thing I would change in my life, or cancel, during those years of tragedy and suffering. Not one thing! Why? Because I like who I have become and what I’m now blessed with and enjoy on a daily basis. I have a beautiful, awesome companion and wife, five beautiful, awesome boys, and a talent and career that I’ve enjoyed immensely for over 25 years. I have friends and family at home and around the world that bless my life daily. I feel like I have truly been taken care of and that everything that has happened to me has been ‘divinely orchestrated’.

Any pain or past suffering has helped mold and form me into a person that can promote good in the world. Through my awareness as an artist I can create sculptures that lift and inspire others. I can give hope and inspiration to others that have perhaps suffered and gone through far more than I could even imagine.

Reading Viktor Frankl two nights ago renewed and re-energized my feelings about life and how suffering can truly be a positive if we but let it work for our good. I think of Viktor and how, through overcoming his trials and hardships, he has positively influenced millions upon millions of souls residing on this planet. He gives me hope and inspiration. That is why I metaphorically place my hand in his hand to lift millions more through creating the Statue of Responsibility. I view it a great honor and responsibility to fulfill Viktor’s vision of creating an inspirational work that will complete the story and stand as a bookend to our Statue of Liberty. “Freedom, however, is not the last word. Freedom is only part of the story and half of the truth. Freedom is but the negative aspect of the whole phenomenon whose positive aspect is responsibleness. In fact, freedom is in danger of degenerating into mere arbitrariness unless it is lived in terms of responsibleness. That is why I recommend that the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast.” (Viktor E. Frankl – Man’s Search For Meaning)

I envision the statue very simple in design and very powerful in its meaning and symbolism. I see the statue several hundred feet tall in order to lift upward not only mankind’s heads and eyes, but also their thoughts and ideals. I see the statue in a gleaming material and radiating light in order to be a visual beacon of upward motion and inspiration. I see the silhouette of the statue unmistakable in its meaning and message. I see at the base of the statue a gathering place for peoples of the world, a garden with other sculptures from many different cultures depicting their unique expression of responsibility as the highest ideal of humanity.

I want those of all ages to be empowered by the statue in one way or another. Finally, I see smaller satellite Statues of Responsibility placed throughout the world in strategic areas to further lift, give hope and inspire humanity.

Another great man has said, “Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come!” (Victor Hugo)

I believe the suffering Viktor and I endured was for a reason and that as we couple our trials and ideals with optimism we will be able to leave behind, in our global hour of need, a monument of great significance.

Gary Lee Price