Tuesdays with Morrie

Yep, I finally bought and read this book. It’s as good as it is said to be.

“When you learn how to die, you learn how to live.”

Tuesdays with Morrie is basically a true story about Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays with his old university professor, who have been diagnosed with a fatal disease that will soon claim his life. It offers the perspective of a dying man, on some issues we deal with on a daily basis, and is written in a truly unique way.

“Love each other or perish.”

For me personally, the most powerful chapter was the one where they spoke about emotions. The idea of accepting and detaching is something which I’ve never seen put quite that way before, although it is something which many, I suspect, learn to do to some extent.

For someone seeking for the answer to the meaning of life, this book has the ability to put things into perspective. Often when we speak about such things we talk about metaphysical ideas, supernatural beings, and the big picture for mankind. (At least that’s for me – others put it in terms of money, money and more money, as I am constantly and painfully reminded every time I return home to my family.) We often lose sight of the small things that we must do to make life meaningful for ourselves. This book would stay on my shelves for a long time for a quick read and a gentle reminder of what is important in human lives.

If I had a chance to speak with Morrie, I would want to do so in his slightly younger days – at the time when he firmly decided that he would never be in a profession that took advantage of others for example. Although Morrie dealt with the many important questions that we will likely ask ourselves at the final stages of our lives, and reminds us not to miss living, he did not have the chance within the book to tell us of his other opinions – of mankind, civilization, etc, which is understandably important to someone not yet on the verge of death like most of us. The book hinted in numerous places of Morrie’s opinions on some of these issues, but only briefly and in little detail.

Also, this book has strengthened my interest and resolve in being an educator, more than ever.

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