Suffering is part of life, and no singular human being, young or old, can ever claim to have had no suffering in their life. And yes, I mean everyone. I've noticed recently, more than ever, that people in all walks of life go through suffering. Some may argue that a very wealthy woman's fashion show being rained out not considered true suffering, but I disagree. Yes, it isn't the same as a young poor girl having to sell her body for money in order to keep herself and her family alive, but that does not mean that they don't feel the same amount of suffering. When you're life is great and nothing seems to be going wrong, it's truly amazing how the brain seeks out suffering where one might assume there is none. For example, I am in a great home, with a modicum amount of cash inflow from my mother and father, and my life, on the whole, is great. Not "I can buy anything I want" kind of great, but great nonetheless. Yet the other day I felt so terrible about a personal situation with my girlfriend that I felt like my world was in tatters, and that I would never get past that day. I would call that, on all accounts, suffering. But I understand that I am not like the rest of the world. I'm not a young man living in Crimea, called to defend his country. I am not an old man, living on retirement funds while his family forgets about him. I do not have what some would call "true" suffering. But I, as a person, within my own world, have known suffering. And I guarantee that everyone who reads this post has felt some sort of suffering within their life. It may not be the worst thing in the world, but it is considered suffering, at least to me.
So what does this lead to? Well, suffering does eventually end, this we know. Whether sooner or later, all suffering does end. But does it always lead to something good? Most of the time it leads to something better, in my eyes, but I don't feel comfortable saying that suffering always leads to goodness. And is that really a true statement, anyways? Could it be that anything after suffering looks good in comparison? Similar to a man dying of thirst seeing a glass of water. To us, that glass of water is something is always there, and that we never stop to think about. However, to that man, the water is more than that. It's a life saving drink that is akin to all the money in the world in that singular moment. So does suffering lead to goodness, or just to what we perceive as goodness? I think it's impossible for someone to step back to tell, but we as philosophers have to try our best to understand the world around us.
You seem to be focusing a lot on the whether or not he situation that Viktor Frankl presents is a realistic one. Viktor Frankl's focus seems to be on aiding people in relief or absolution of their existential crises, and finding meaning in life. He prefaces this by presenting the picture of true misery and yet he manages to turn this into a positive force in his life. I agree with you in some regards. It seems very optimistic and is, honestly, somewhat difficult to believe. However Viktor Frankl is the evidence. He managed to overcome what I consider to be some of the most difficult and trying experiences in life. Murder of his family, imprisonment, torture, utter fear. He comes out of this and some how comes back to life. He takes his experience and decides to help people. This may not be all the cases but he turned his misery into a positive force. I guess the question I have is how did he do it? Why did he not give up on life? Viktor Frankl believed in tragic optimism, however he also posited that optimism cannot be forced even if one wished to and thus not everyone cannot be optimistic in the face of tragedy.
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