Mitch Albom, author of Tuesdays with Morrie, is flipping through his TV stations one night and he heard these words come from his TV set, “Who is Morrie Schwartz?”And Mitch went numb. Mitch found out through the TV show “Nightline” that his life long friend and teacher is dying and Mitch knows that he has to go and see him. Mitch goes to see his old college professor and what starts out as a one-day meeting turns into a four-month “class”. The class is conducted in Morrie’s house in the suburb or Boston, there are no books or any other students, just Mitch and Morrie.
Throughout this class Morrie teaches Mitch the lessons of life; lessons such as death, fear, aging, greed, marriage, family, society, forgiveness, and a meaningful life. As Morrie’s conditions worsen, Mitch’s condition is getting better; Mitch is becoming a better person.Finally Morrie’s life comes to an end, and Mitch graduates from “Life 101”. “I felt the seeds of death inside his shriveling frame, and as I laid him in his chair, adjusting his head on the pillow, I had the coldest realization that our time was running out (59).” That is what Mitch, a journal writer for the Detroit Free Press, said as he lifted his old college teacher from his wheelchair to his recliner.Morrie Schwartz is dying from ALS, otherwise known as Lou Gehrig disease. As the book goes on, Morrie reaches out to people who want to talk and he teaches them about the real lessons of life, while he is lying on his deathbed. Tuesdays With Morrie is an excellent book because Morrie teaches Mitch lessons about marriage, greed, and family that young adults can learn from.
“Love each other or perish”(149). This quote sums up all of Morrie’s views and beliefs on the topic of marriage and love.I feel that young adults can learn a very big lesson from this short quote. Love and marriage are very important because we all need someone to love and to love back, if we don’t we are going to live a very lonely and unhappy life. There is a set of rules that Morrie stated in this book that I feel young adults could learn a lot from.
Morrie said that, “your going to have a lot of trouble if you don’t respect the other person… if you don’t now how to compromise… if you can’t talk openly about what goes on between you… if you don’t have a common set of values in life”(149). And the biggest one of those values is your belief in the importance of your marriage. I think that everything that Morrie says in that passage is very true. When he talks about if you don’t know how to compromise then you are going to have a lot of trouble. If you can’t work and give up some things to make things succeed with the person that you love then you are going to have a lot of problems. I really feel that young adults can learn a lot from that passage as well as throughout the book about marriage.
Another issue that Morrie talks to Mitch about that I feel young adults can learn from is greed, and how we as people put our values in the wrong things. I also feel that this is true in today’s society. We do put our values in the wrong things, we put our values in money, cars, cloths, and many others, but we all know that that is the wrong place to put our heart. I’m sure that we have all heard the quote, “When we die, you can’t take it with you (124)”. Since this has been mentioned so much I don’t need to go in depth about it, but I really feel that this is true, we need to realize that we can’t take our material things with us when we die.What I learned from this chapter is that a person doesn’t go through their whole life putting their values in the wrong things and then when you get older realize that they where wrong and should have put their values in something else. It is easier to learn now then later.
The final lesson that I feel young adults can learn from is how important family should be to someone. Morrie says,” The fact is, there is no foundation, no secure ground, upon which people may stand today if it isn’t the family”(91). You really do need a family that loves you very much and is always watching you. That is what Morrie feels a family is all about, knowing that you have someone always watching out for you and always taking care of you. I really feel that young adults can learn a lot about themselves from this chapter also.
It really teaches you about how important others are to you, and how you have to surround yourself with people that love you, causes if you don’t you are going to perish. “Love each other or perish”(149). This book really is an excellent book and although I only wrote about how it can benefit young adults I really feel that it is a book for all age groups. Everyone can learn from this book and I would highly recommend this book for everyone to read. I could have written much more about the lessons that I learned from this book, I even had to cut a lot of information out, but these are the lesson that I feel young adults could learn from the most. And I hope that I can use what I learned to make me a better person also.
I really enjoyed reading this book and I can honestly say that it has helped shape my life. Bibliography:
