Mitchell David Albom (born May 23, 1958) is an American author, journalist, screenwriter, dramatist, radio and television broadcaster, and musician. His books have sold over 38 million copies worldwide. He achieved national recognition for sports writing in the earlier part of his career, he is perhaps best known for the inspirational stories and themes that weave through his books and plays.
Introduction
Tuesdays with Morrie is a non-fiction novel by American writer Mitch Albom. It is an autobiographical account of the author. This book is more than just a dying man's last words. It is an inspirational recount of a man's life -- a man whose passion for the human spirit has continued to live long till his last breath. We can say there are two stories within Tuesday with Morrie. One is the story of a man and a disease and another one is the story of a professor of social psychology who has come to understand that life's complexities can be broken down into simple truths. Mitch Albom, by chance, saw his old professor on TV being interviewed about what it was like to be dying of ALS, more commonly known as Lou Gherig's disease. Albom was surprised and saddened to know that Morrie was dying and quickly got in touch with his old professor. In spite of knowing that he was dying, he never felt hopeless or helpless. He was always positive. He wanted to die peacefully, yet he wanted to share his experience as much as possible with the people. The story is based on the real story of Morrie Schwartz. Morrie and Mitch met and then Morrie taught Mitch things that can only be learned from experience. Their subject became the meaning of life which the professor started teaching from his experiences. The meeting started as a reunion of old friends and turned into the project of a lifetime. Mitch and Morrie had spent the next fourteen Tuesdays together.
Overview
Mitch started visiting his Professor on Tuesdays and they call themselves “Tuesday People”. Professor started teaching lessons that can only be learned from experience. He used to take food and they talked about topics for hours. He wanted to enjoy every moment he is left in this beautiful world.
On the first Tuesday, they talked about the world. He taught him about caring about everyone even about the people we have never known far in the lands of east and west. In addition, he taught us about being sorry for ourselves. He asserted that it is okay to be sad at times, even crying, but then we should concentrate on all the good things still in our lives.
The following Tuesday they talked about death. He told that “Everyone knows they are going to die, but no one believes it.” He basically urged him to be ready to die than be afraid for a lifetime because death is unavoidable. Furthermore, they discussed family and relationships which are both important in one’s life.
Family is important because our friends can’t be with us 24/7, but our family is always standing up for us all the time. He was suffering from ALS and can’t move, so he learned the value of family and how much his family is helpful in his hour of need. Likewise, relationships are also very important. We run into different people and some of them we find honest and sincere and some not. We also come across people who loved us and care for us unconditionally so we should respect them too at least. We should never take our family and good relationships for granted.
They also talked about marriage in which he said that according to him marriage is all about, who you are, who the other person is, and how you accommodate or not. There should be an understanding between both. He also told about regret in life. We should never regret our actions, and always learn lessons from them considering them as an experience. He also mentioned about to live our life happily without having fear of anything. They discussed principles such as forgiveness, love, trust, and belief. Morrie died in November of 1995, but the lessons that he taught Mitch changed Mitch's life.
Conclusion
Mitch Albom's time with Morrie changed his everyday life. He started spending more time with his wife, taking more time off work, and has restructured his work regime. He started going overseas to visit his family more often. In short, he started spending more time with the people in his life that he cares about most. He said he faces life with less fear than he did before, knowing that life only comes around once and somehow things will work out. It is clear that he was a now better person and possesses a true sense of meaning. Clearly, Morrie's class taught him a lot and made his classes a success. So, all these changes in Mitch Albom would have made Morrie, proud of his student.
My Thoughts
This book is clearly different from all the others the main reason being it is a true story and speaks through experience. This book taught me that time is very precious, and we ought to pay more attention to how we choose to spend it. In the book, he also brought out that the most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in. This statement taught me the importance of how we treat each other. At last, I would like to say that this book is all about how to stay happy and how to attain never-dying happiness in this fast-paced life.