Tuesdays with Morrie
by Mitch Albom

  • Philosophy
  • Ashto = 7/10
  • Jonesy = 8/10

What You Will Learn from Tuesdays with Morrie

Tuesdays with Morrie is packed with valuable lessons including how to forgive, be compassionate towards others, and live life as if it’s your last day.

Whether it’s your grandparent, a teacher, or someone older and wise, you’ve probably met an influential figure who understood you when you were young and searching for answers in life. For Mitch Alborn, that person was his old college professor Morrie Schwartz. Mitch was fortunate to have a second chance of gleaning from his wisdom during Morrie’s last months of life. He would visit Morrie in his study every Tuesday, and each visit would turn into a lesson in living life. ‘Taking just makes me feel like I’m dying. Giving makes me feel like I’m living,’ Morrie responded when Mitch questioned his unwillingness to accept sympathy from other people. With 15 million copies sold worldwide, Morrie’s presence and lessons continue to influence people through Tuesdays with Morrie.

Morrie’s death sentence came in the summer of 1994 with a bad diagnosis. Looking back, Morrie knew something bad was coming before that. He knew it the day he gave up dancing. He had always been a dancer–whether it was rock and roll, big band, or the blues. But the dancing stopped when Morrie developed asthma in his sixties. A few years after that, he started having trouble walking. One doctor ordered a muscle biopsy and from there, they found out that Morrie was suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Loe Gehrig’s disease. ALS is a terminal illness that attacks the neurological system, and until today, there is no known cure or treatment for it.

2nd Tuesday: Self-pity

Mitch asked Morrie if he ever felt sorry for himself. ‘Sometimes I mourn in the mornings. I feel around my body, moving my fingers, hands, or whatever I can still move. I mourn the slow insidious way in which I’m dying, and I give myself a good cry if I need it. But then I also concentrate on all the good things still in my life– the people who are coming to see me and the stories that I’m going to hear from them,’ Morrie responded.

Mitch thought about all the people who spent many of their waking hours feeling sorry for themselves, and how useful it would be to put a daily limit on self-pity. After all, Morrie could do it with such a horrible disease eating him inside. ‘It’s horrible to watch my body slowly wilt away to nothing. But it’s also wonderful because of all the time I get to say goodbye,’ Morrie said. ‘Not everyone’s so lucky.’

4th Tuesday: Death

Everyone knows they’re going to die but nobody believes it. But to know you’re going to die and be prepared for it at any time–that’s better. In preparation for death, you can actually be more involved with your life while you’re living. The truth is once you learn how to die, you learn how to live.

Why is it so hard to think about dying? We really don’t experience the world fully because we’re always half asleep, doing things we automatically think we have to do. Facing death changes that because then you start focusing on the essentials.

If you accept that you can die at any time then you might not be as ambitious as you are. You might have to make room for some more spiritual things. We are too involved in materialistic things even though they don’t satisfy us in a long term.

Morrie nodded toward the window with the sunshine streaming in. ‘You see that? You can go out outside any time, while I can’t. I can’t go out. I can’t run. I can’t be out there without the fear of getting sick. But you know what? I appreciate that window more than you do. I look out the window every day. I notice the change in the trees and how strong the wind is blowing. It’s as if I can see time actually passing through the windowpane. Because I know my time is almost done, I am drawn to nature like I’m seeing it for the first time.’

10th Tuesday: Marriage

Almost everyone has a problem with marriage. Some have problems getting into it while some have problems getting out. People in today’s generation are either too selfish to take part in a real loving relationship, or they rush into a marriage and get divorced six months later. A lot of people don’t even know who they are–so how are they supposed to know what they want in a partner or who they’re marrying?

  • There are a few rules Morrie knew to be true about love and marriage:
  • If you don’t respect the other person you’re going to have a lot of trouble
  • If you don’t know how to compromise, you’re going to have a lot of trouble
  • If you can’t talk openly about what goes on between you, you’re going to have a lot of trouble. And if you don’t have a common set of values in life, you’re going to have trouble. However, the most important value is your belief in the importance of your marriage.

13th Tuesday: The perfect day

The closer Morrie got to the end, the more he saw his body as a mere shell and container for the soul, which made it easier to let go of his withering skin and bones. The sensation of accepting what is happening and being at peace was the most incredible feeling for him. That’s what we’re all looking for: a certain peace with the idea of dying. If we can be peaceful with the idea of dying then we can finally overcome the challenge of making peace with living.

Death is a natural process. The fact that we make such a big deal out of it because we don’t see ourselves as part of nature. We think that human beings are above nature, but we’re not. Everything that gets born will die eventually.

Conclusion of Tuesdays with Morrie

Morrie died on a Saturday morning without the presence of his immediate family in the room. They just left the room for a moment to make coffee in the kitchen, which was the first time that none of them were with Morrie since the coma began. Just like that, Morrie stopped breathing. Mitch believed that he died this way on purpose because he wanted no one to witness his last breath and be haunted by it. Morrie never read a word of Tuesdays with Morrie, and yet his lessons have reached so many people. Because even in his dying days, he took the time to give.

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