Yet, rather than resigning himself to despair, Tagore seamlessly pivots: ‘But since we are born, let us do something.’ This transition marks a crucial shift from passive lamentation to active engagement. By acknowledging our unavoidable presence in the world, Tagore suggests that meaning is not found in the avoidance of life’s difficulties, but in what we choose to do despite them. This echoes Viktor Frankl’s existential imperative in ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’ (1946), where agency and purpose are offered as antidotes to suffering. [...]
