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Mitch Albom's Tuesdays With Morrie

Decent Essays

“The truth is, once you learn how to die, you learn how to live.” by Morrie Schwartz. Tuesdays With Morrie is a memoir written by Mitch Albom that centers around his former professor, Morrie Schwartz. Schwartz became diagnosed with a rare neurological diseases called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS for short. Both Schwartz and Albom know that Schwartz days are numbered, to keep his promise he made to the professor and to make up for lost time Albom visits Schwartz on Tuesdays and they discuss lessons about life. The central theme in Tuesdays With Morrie is the things one can learn about life through death, such as; being comfortable to openly show love and compassion to others, maintaining healthy relationships with others and creating …show more content…

Overall one of Schwartz main lessons he taught Albom was love and compassion and why there was a shortage of it in society. Schwartz states that the one thing the disease has taught him is how to give love and let love in. He follows up the statement by stating the reason why there's a shortage of it in society: “We think we don't deserve love, we think if we let it in we’ll become too soft. But a wise man named Levine said it right ‘Love is the only rational act.’” Schwartz words seem to move and change Albom because Albom proceeds to hug and even kiss his professor goodbye which unlike Albom. Once the weekly lessons start Schwartz pokes fun at Albom’s inability to cry in public and states that one day hell get him to cry, which he later succeeded in doing. Throughout the duration we see quite a bit of love and compassion between the characters; such as between Schwartz and Albom’s in their weekly lessons, Schwartz and his wife and team of nurses caring and being there for him, and Albom and his sick brother trying to …show more content…

In the beginning we become of aware of how Albom lost contact with most people he knew in college and how he “buried himself in accomplishments, because with accomplishments, he believed he could control things, he could squeeze in every last piece of happiness before he got sick and died.” Morrie states that "So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they're 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 recalls his professor’s quote at the beginning of the novel when we are first introduced to his hectic career as a sports reporter. Albom’s main motivations in life are success and materialistic things. Schwartz states how countless people get caught leading a meaningless life and they become too involved in their job, money, and fall under the pressures from society. He feels that enable to add a meaning to one's life we must develop relationships with those arounds us, devote ourselves to our communities and create our own meaning to our lives and not chase what others define as a meaningful life. Schwartz’s also emphasizes how maintaining healthy relationships with not only

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