Morrie’s greatest quality was “generativity, or the desire to help and mentor younger persons” which, “may be the most critical variable for achieving ego integrity” (Hooyman & Kiyak, 2011, p. 217). Morrie had always helped others because he was a teacher; however, he went above and beyond teaching as he mentored individuals and created a vast number of friends throughout his life. His final desire to perpetuate the acts of his life by having a book written demonstrate his willingness to continue giving and reiterate the success of his life’s review.
Even though wisdom is difficult to define, most people have general idea of what wisdom entails (Hooyman, N.R. & Kiyak, H. A.,2011). Morrie Schwartz was a wise individual. Throughout his conversations with Mitch Albom, he never actually tells him things directly instead guides him with his talks of past experiences to generate responses from him. He does the same with others never tells anyone what to do, rather makes comments to guide others to make the right choices. Mitch’s memories of Morrie’s teachings revolved around “being human and relating to others” (Abom, 1997, p. 17). Overall, Morrie demonstrated both factual and procedural knowledge as well as life-span contextualism and value relativism, which, put together define wisdom.
Reflecting on his death, Morrie also managed uncertainty; he knew he could not change his inevitable death so he not only accepted it but embraced it. Morrie discussed the process of his near
Wisdom is an important part of life. It helps you detect right from wrong.In the book, The Giver, by Lois Lowry, Jonas gains wisdom from the Giver. Jonas is the new receiver of memory in training. He receives all the memories from the past. The Giver is the receiver of memory. He is training Jonas to be just like him. Throughout the book, Jonas learns about the past and memories. He strives to help his society have the freedom to make choices. Wisdom significantly impact the choice one makes.
To begin with, the first important aphorism that Morrie is “Once you learn how to die you learn how to live”. He was saying if they knew they’re going to die they would think and live differently. In fact, Morrie said “everyone knows they’re going to die ‘’ he said again but nobody believes it. If we did, we would do things differently’’(125).
Learning to appreciate the things and people around you makes for a happy life. Morrie died peacefully and treasured every moment before it, not once did he worry about anything that was not a friend in need. The fall off Morrie teaches a lesson of values and loving those around
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).
Without knowledge and wisdom the future CEOs, political figures and activists leaders would not be enlightened to be who they are today. The leaders listed above all have a few things in common: improving an aspect of life, venturing, passionate. Don’t we all have these qualities in common too? Knowledge creates a catalyst that allows people to use their knowledge and impact the world. Who wouldn't want to impact the world? Yet, possibly without knowledge Captain Sully Sullenberger would not have landed U.S. Airways flight on the Hudson, Henry Ford workers would not be able to afford his cars and Neil Armstrong would never set foot on the moon. Knowledge and wisdom increases happiness by, allowing everyone to wake up everyday knowing they’re legacy is positively impacting the
The book, Tuesdays With Morrie sets out to discover the thoughts of Morrie Schwartz and answers his views on questions such as: are you satisfied with where you are in life. are you content with your surroundings, the people in your life and even yourself? Do you fear death or are imartacail to that fact of life? While reading an excerpt from this book the reader can ask themselves these questions too, and compare and contrast their answers to how Morrie (a well rounded, educated, college professor) views similar topics in his later life.
At present, humanity has vast amounts of knowledge, but still very little wisdom. Buckminster Fuller called this time our final evolutionary exam. Is our species fit to survive? Can we develop the wisdom that will allow us to use our prodigious powers for our own good, and for that of many generations to come? The question then arises: What can we do to facilitate the development of wisdom? This is where the wisdom traditions—the spiritual traditions found throughout human culture—have their value. They are often seen as simply religions, but most of the great religions were seeded by wise people, people who had, in one way or another, awoken to the deeper truths of life and then sought to share their wisdom with
At his end Morrie came to the realization that death is natural and one should accept this and focus on the essentials, living as if this day was the last. He iterates this in his line “To know you’re going to die, and to be prepared for it at any time… that way you can actually be more involved in your life while you’re living” (Albom 81). Morrie believes that people lived today like they might die tomorrow people will care less about material things and by extent they should be less greedy and kinder. While I can agree with his logic as I follow it, I cannot accept that this would work in reality. This train of thought isn’t common for a reason. The only people I know of who think like Morrie Suggests are reckless people in stories. When I read enough of the Fourth Tuesday this idea made me stop to imagine life like this. Personally, it lead to a train of thought questioning the point of life. Try as I might I had no answer, let alone one as simple as 42. I later realized when writing this line that this is likely why we seem to avoid the topic of death as it brings up too many questions about life that people don’t have answers to. These questions can be dangerous to those with a less stable mindset. This is why I cannot support this chapter in the textbook of Morrie’s final
Wisdom is sometimes considered as how much knowledge someone has. This is completely wrong; wisdom is actually “the ability to discern and judge which aspects of that knowledge are true, right, lasting…” (Wisdom). This comes out of receiving God’s truth through contact with Him, and applying that truth to a personal experience. Wisdom could be learning from mistakes. If an individual makes one, they might realize it, but never pay attention to how they could fix it. If they would just realize their mistake and use it to make a decision in the future, however, they would have become wiser. In Chaim Potok’s book The Chosen, Danny and Reuven’s wisdom produces a genuine and rich communication between the two, nurtured a mutual pursuit of truth, and directed them to developing a deep
Morrie chose to live everyday as if it was his last, because in reality any day could have been. Morrie stated “Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live.” (82) This statement reveals his outlook about his final days on earth. Morrie decided to become more involved in his life, once he accepted the fact he was going to die. Morrie took a good look at his life and determined what was truly important to him. Morrie chose to not waste his final days fearing the inevitable, he wanted to spend time making the most of it. Morrie also stated “Lear to forgive yourself and to forgive others.” Morrie wanted no regrets. He wanted to correct the wrongdoings of his past. Morrie learned to forgive others, and more importantly himself. He was able to free his conscience allowing him to live more fulfilling final days. Morrie did everything he could to make the most of his last days. He spent his hours teaching his friends and family about life's important lessons. Morrie said “Do I wither up and disappear, or do I make the best of my time left?” Morrie spent the last year of his life with people he loved. Even in his weakest moments he wanted to be surrounded with love and affection. Morrie realized his death was inevitable, and did not wallow in self-pity. Unlike King Lear, Morrie truly lived a life of no regret, and did not isolate himself from those who loved and cared for him.
In the book, Morrie is in his last stage of development, integrity vs. despair. Erikson believed each period in life was a struggle between two opposing factors. He regarded this psychosocial crisis in later life as integrity vs. despair. Due to the increased declines and losses that occur in this stage, it is easy for many to resort to despair. However, the challenge is to achieve and maintain integrity, which can be done by accepting the past,
When one says that this elderly person has wisdom from various life experiences, he/she is not saying that the elderly person knows much about books and their profession. Instead, one would be speaking about the elderly person’s vast knowledge about what is important in life due to their multitude of experiences. While the elderly person may not be completely wise in the most encompassing form of wisdom, the elderly person does appear to have a more expansive understanding of what is important in life. Simply knowing what matters in life, however, does not satisfy the ultimate form of wisdom, for the wise must know why these things matter in life. That is, a truly wise person must have insight beyond the theoretical, into the practical. Beyond this, a wise person, in this view, must also know how to achieve what matters most, and, in knowing so, do what matters most. I say this because a truly wise person would be able to act upon what they know to be the most important thing in life. It is wiser for a person to act than to merely conceptualize what is most essential in life.
Another meeting with Morrie came with a different topic and tone. Mitch recalls learning about Morrie’s family and how important it is to keep a good close relationship with them. During this period, Mitch, can relate to the Middle age adult theory, it is a time to develop care. This is a period where career and work are the most important things along with family. It is also a period when people can take a greater responsibility and control over their lives and
However, Morrie’s demeanor gave him the façade of a man whom thoroughly engulfed life. Morrie’s philosophy of living seemed to be that life should be lived and not squandered on menial things such as obsessive or unfulfilling work and the love of monetary or material gains. Morrie defined these things as products of the “popular culture.” Morrie reiterated that “popular culture values” taught the person to become independent of those things that kept a person psychologically healthy and emotionally happy. Mitch begins to script Morrie’s life by
by his father never to talk about her. It was a terrible burden to Morrie.