Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom

WOW. JUST WOW.
This book was amazing. It was such a sweet&sad story about this guy named Morrie who's dying, and kind of "passes on" his knowledge of life to Mitch. In a way, Morrie has all the answers that Mitch wants, even though Morrie doesn't have a "concrete" answer. I don't know if that made sense, but what made this book so good, was that fact that it was real. I had to remind myself throughout the book, that Morrie was actually a real person, and that his sufferings were real too.

The vast amount of knowledge and life lessons he shares is just...well, so inspirational. I don't know any other way to describe it because it's so powerful, and the thing is it's ALL REAL. It's not fiction. Someone with the name Morris Schwartz actually went through all of this. This person is REAL. I just couldn't grasp that fact. I don't know why. Maybe it's because all of the words that came out of Morrie's mouth were so simple and true about the way we should live our lives, but people in today's society don't live their lives the "right way." Today people's lives are centered around money, improving their status, getting that bigger house, and that promotion that comes with a bigger paycheck. But Morrie says simply that "So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half asleep, even when they are busy doing things they think are important. This is because they're chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning" (Albom, 43). I think everyone kind of knows this already, but it's not until you actually sit down and think to yourself, 'what do I really want?' 'what's my purpose in this world?' or 'Is this all I really want?' until it REALLY hits you, with what you REALLY want to do with your life. Sometimes this realization might not even hit you until it's too late-- when you're on your death bed, thinking of your life, and of all the regrets you have. Isn't that just sad?

After reading this book, I just don't want to be like those people that work day and night, trying to gain materialistic things in this world. I don't want to live my life just working for my next paycheck. In the book, Morrie says "Money is not a substitite for tenderness, and power is not a substitute for tenderness," and that "You can't substitute material things for love or for gentleness or for tenderness, or for a sense of comradship" (Albom, 125). He says that " "The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in." When asled what gives him satisfaction, he says "Offering others what you have to give" (Albom, 126). Isn't this just a simple answer to how we should live our lives? So simple, but people think that there is a much more complicated answer. Most people don't TRULY think this way until they think it's too late. But you want to know something else Morrie said? He said it's never too late for anything.

So yeah. This book really touched my heart (I know that sounded soo corny, but it's true!), and it really reminded me of the book "5 People You Meet In Heaven" (but the same author). In both books, it shows how the meaning/purpose of a life is found through death. I don't know if that made sense, but in "Tuesdays With Morrie," you can see how his persepective on life, while dying, is different from many other people's, and in "5 People You Meet In Heaven," you see how the life of this one guy affected so many other people, but only after he dies.

Oh and I have one more thing to say...Well not really what I have to say, but something that Morrie said. He said that "Dying is one thing to be sad about, [but] living unhappily is another thing." And I liked this quote alot, because it's like saying, as long as you lived life to it's fullest, you should be able to live a happy life, and although death will be 'sad,' it won't be unbearable. But if you keep striving for things that don't really matter in the long run, your life will be miserable, and death will be even worse. I'm not sure if that's what Morrie said when he said that, but that's what it meant to me.

So yeahh...that's all I have to say for now.