On 6th May 2019, I took “Tuesdays with Morrie” with me to one of may favourite cafes. I ordered an iced mocha to go with this Mitch Albom’s book. They seemed to match one another pretty well.
Introduction
“Tuesdays with Morrie” is a book by Mitch Albom, the author, who recorded what he learned from his professor, Morrie Schwartz. Morrie was a professor in sociology who was ill with ASL (the ASL that Prof. Stephen Hawking had). Morrie only had months to live and the disease was spreading from his legs. Once it got to his lungs, it would be time for Morrie to go.
Mitch Albom
Knowing that, Mitch decided to pay a visit to his favourite professor … every Tuesday. Actually, when Mitch was still at university, he also met Professor Morrie every Tuesday. The difference was that this time Morrie taught Mitch the topic of “Life through Death.”
Morrie, not having long to live, was able to look at another angle of his life. Also being a professor in sociology gave him the ability to see life and death more deeply.
What We Learned from Morrie
Morrie’s illness got worse and worse every week. At same time, Morrie albeit very ill was still able to teach us many valuable lessons. For examples:
- Because Morrie did not have long to live, he had learned to live everyday as if it was his last.
- Morrie said it was very important to spend “quality time” with our family. Families were things that were usually overlooked. Sometimes we would forget and make other people or other things more important.
- Morrie taught us that we should really be happy with our true feelings. There was not point in hiding them. If we were sad, just cry. People usually hid their feelings for fear of being hurt. By letting go of the feelings, the next time we faced or were in the same situations, we would know how to feel.
- Morrie emphasised that when conversing with other people, it was essential that we would focus on and really pay attention to them. We must not talk and do other stuff simultaneously. Just imagine, what it would be like if this were to be the last conversation with them.
- Morrie suggested that it was important to forgive others and forgive ourselves. Morrie told a story that he had a very close friend who he knew for over ten years. One time, Morrie’s wife was ill but this friend never came to visit. This made Morrie angry. In the end, this friend died of cancer and Morrie never had a chance to speak to him at all. Morrie was still upset about this until the day he told Mitch the story.
These are just some of the many many things that I can summarise from reading “Tuesdays with Morrie.“
Final Words
Personally, I think “Tuesdays with Morrie” not only gives valuable lessons on life, it also provides an insight to the relationship between a student and his teacher. At the end, when Morrie passed away, it was especially sad, because the book had already made me feel like Morrie’s student also.
I can safely say that it was one of, if not, the best books I read that year.