Death is a very complicated phenomenon and is hard to see someone go through the process. Its even tougher when someone is terminally ill like Morrie in the novel written by Mitch Albom, Tuesdays With Morrie. Morrie Schwartz is one of the main characters in Tuesdays with Morrie. He suffers from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, otherwise known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease. This disease attacks the nervous system which then weakens voluntary movements and impacts physical functions. Motor neurons from the brain go to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to their death. When the motor neurons die, the control muscle movement is lost. ALS tends to start at the legs and work its way up throughout the body. The patient has no control over their body. The prognosis of the disease is usually no longer than five years. “ALS is …show more content…
Morrie Schwartz is a professor at Brandeis University. He retired sixteen years ago. Mitch loved Morrie as a professor. Morrie taught sociology courses and Mitch took almost all of those courses. Mitch and Morrie are the two main characters. Even though Morrie is dying from ALS, he will not give up on teaching. Mitch graduated from Brandeis university and promised Morrie he would keep in touch with him. Although Mitch didn't keep in touch with Morrie, once he found out he was dying, he traveled to West Newton, Massachusetts to visit him. Mitch continues to visit Morrie every Tuesday to listen to Morrie’s lesson on “The Meaning of Life”. Every week Mitch goes to see Morrie, his condition is worse than the previous week. In these weekly meetings, Morrie talks about life and death, and stresses that you cannot be afraid to die. Throughout this entire novel, many aspects such as spirituality, caring, grief, and loss are important to the nursing
“Once you learn how to die ,you learn how to live”,this quote sums up most of the lesion Morrie is trying to teach the readers. let me start from the beginning Mitch is telling us a story about his old professor that has been diagnosed with ALS.It's a disease when your body shuts down slowly . Morrie is teaching us how to live life in better ways before it's too late. The three most important aphorisms is family,importence,memories.
Many people learn many things in many different ways. Most learn in school or church, some learn in asking questions, but I believe the best lessons are taught from a good friend. Tuesdays With Morrie is a true story of the remarkable lessons taught by a dying professor, Morrie Schwartz, to his pupil, Mitch Albom. Morrie teaches Mitch the lessons of life, lessons such as death, fear, aging, greed, marriage, family, society, forgiveness, and a meaningful life. This is a story of a special bond of friendship that was lost for many years, but never forgotten and simply picked up again at a crucial time of both Morrie's and Mitch's lives.
“We can leave the mountain anytime we want but those with ALS are prisoners in their own body”-Alex Williams. People with ALS start losing their ability to move as the disease goes through their body. In the Book Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom Morrie Schwartz has ALS and he tries to give away all of his wisdom before he dies. Morrie teaches people to live life through showing love to family, not hiding or being scared of aging and accepting that Death is natural.
ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) or Lou Gehrig’s Disease is a classified as a degenerative neurological disorder that inhibits motor neurons in the spinal cord and brain to function properly. This disease eventually results in paralysis and imminent death over a period of time. ALS patients have anywhere from a few months, to a couple years to live after diagnosis since their nervous systems are slowly destroyed, rendering the body useless, and sustaining life impossible.
Morrie was an old man, and he was dying of ALS or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Mitch Albom was a workaholic who loved his work too much. Mitch had kept a promise to his professor to keep in touch with him, but ever did, and sixteen years later, Mitch turned on the TV one day to find his old professor, Morrie, talking about his final project: death. This sparked Mitch to think about his old professor, and would soon be the inspiration the famous book Tuesdays with Morrie, based on the true story about Morrie’s last lesson, teaching Mitch about life.
The focus throughout Tuesdays with Morrie was on life. Many might see it as the story of death, but it is actually the story life. Morrie might talk a little on how he meets death, but what he is talking about is living at the end of his life. Mitch writes, “Now here we were . . . . . . Dying man talks to living man, tells him what he should know.”(Albom, 133) When a timer is placed on Morrie’s remaining days, he obtains a dying man’s perspective on what is truly important in life, and how to incorporate in life this importance. I looked for parts of the book that pertain directly to my life; I focused on this concept while reading this book. My thesis remained elusive. There wasn’t a Tuesday that jumped out at me, and then I came to the
When you are unable to function without aid of someone you feel lifeless. Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom, Morrie a retired psychology professor from Brandis University is dying from ALS. A student Mitch is back for his final lesson from his old teacher. This lessons topic is the meaning of life. When faced with his known fate Morrie refused to stay in bed and was very active. He said “When you’re in bed you’re dead.”(Albom 131). I had a life experience where I was very sick and I realized his meaning of lifelessness and your dependency on others.
Mitch was intrigued by Morrie during his participation in his college course on “the meaning of life.” After chasing cash instead of his dreams post-college Mitch rekindled his bond with his dying life coach. On the second Tuesday Mitch thought to him self, “How useful it would be to put a daily limit on self pity.”(Pg.57) Feeling sorry for your self, much like most would expect Morrie to do, only deprives one of the ability to appreciate the life around him/her. By appreciating the love he’s receiving and time on earth before death, Morrie can have a positive outlook on life even while facing a tragic death sentence.
A question asked in the first Nightline interview is “Who is Morrie Schwartz?” (23). Morrie is a professor in Philosophy at Brandeis University dealing with a terminal disease, but this description only scratches the surface. Morrie is a person with valuable life lessons, and an optimistic attitude toward the worst of situations. He has an open personality, causing him to always let people know how he feels. Morrie sympathizes and touches those he has not met in person. With a personality like Morrie’s, this seemingly simple question asked on Nightline is difficult to answer.
Before we can understand the varying fates of these two men we must examine the prior years of life that scripted them. Morrie Schwartz lived for people and the opportunity to welcome them into his heart. He took the time to pursue a relationship with the student that would one day write his dying testimony, he took the time to cultivate a fruitful marriage and he took the time to give his fullest attention to everyone he encountered. Morrie cast off the deceptions of status and wealth, instead devoting himself to his family, his students, and the bouncing rhythms of the dance floor. Above all else, Morrie Schwartz clung to his guiding principle, "love each other or perish" (Mor, 91).
Sogyal Rinpoche stated “When you start preparing for death you soon realize that you must look into your life now...and come to face the truth of yourself. Death is like a mirror in which the true meaning of life is reflected.” Death is imminent. Many people today fear death for various reasons. Some people are able to accept it, where others deny its existence. Some people spend their lives working towards the coming of their death, and their life thereafter, where others spend there lives doing everything they possibly can to make the most of their time on earth. In Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom, the lead character Morrie Schwartz was diagnosed with the fatal disease Lou Gerrig’s Disease, also know as ALS. Although many people
Tuesdays with Morrie tells the real story of Morrie Schwartz. Morrie was a university professor who was dying of ALS (Lou Gehrig 's disease). Instead of being afraid of death, he faced it head on and decided to make the most of his time left. After seeing a Nightline episode featuring his old professor, Morrie, the author, Mitch, decides to pay his old professor a visit. Mitch is intrigued by Morrie 's attitude towards death and his life lessons, so he decides to visit Morrie again next Tuesday and record what Morrie has to say. This turns into a weekly meeting between Mitch and Morrie and eventually these meetings were turned into the book, Tuesdays with Morrie. Mitch - the author of the book and Morrie 's old student. Mitch is distracted in his life and focusing on things that Morrie feels are unimportant (work, fame, and success). Though focused on the wrong things, Mitch has a good heart and Morrie helps him find himself again “The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in.
In Mitch Albom’s page turning memoir Tuesdays with Morrie, Morrie Schwartz possesses the qualities of a real life hero through sharing his own experiences and wisdom; in turn providing revelations for those individuals privileged enough to hear from him. Morrie shows heroism by refusing to lose his compassion even though he realizes he is dying. When Morrie greets people in his later years, he becomes determined to give more love than ever. Being fully present with a person is one of Morrie’s main goals; he states “experience them fully and completely” (Albom 104). Mitch states “The way Morrie lit up when I entered the room. He did this for many people, I know, but it was his special talent to make each visitor feel that the smile was unique”
The novel entitled Tuesdays With Morrie, written by Morrie Schwartz’s friend and student Mitch Albom, gives the reader a chance to hear Morrie’s words, thoughts and feelings as Morrie approaches his pending demise from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Disease (ALS), commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Through Morrie’s words entitled “The Meaning of Life” and Mitch’s “life lessons” entitled “The Thesis;” the reader is granted entry into Morrie’s evolving realm of “life, death
A distinctive characteristic of ALS is that although the motor neurons die, the brain, cognitive functions and sensory neurons stay intact (Porth & Matfin, 2009). This makes the disease especially devastating because patients become trapped inside their dying body, with a fully alert mind, but are unable to move. It is not known what causes the exact death of the motor neurons in the body, but “five percent to 10% of cases are familial; the others are believed to be sporadic” (Porth & Matfin, 2009, p.