TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE
…an old man, a young man, and life’s greatest lesson…
In recent times I came across this book called Tuesdays with Morrie written by Mitch Albom.
It tells the story of Mitch, and his adulation for his college professor, who mentored him with diligence and care during his student days. Unbeknown to them, a day would come, when Mitch would sit next to his mentor’s bedside during his last days, learning life’s final lessons.
These lessons are applicable to everyone and in light of our upcoming journey, I was curious to see what sage advice I could garner before we left for our trip.
If we all lived with hindsight, let’s face it, we might make a whole lot fewer mistakes. Someone who can offer this advice is a person who has lived longer than we have, made more mistakes than we have, seen more than we have and lost more than we have.
Mitch writes a nostalgic account of the last weeks of Morrie’s life, where amongst other conversations, death is frequently discussed, much to Mitch’s discomfort.
A couple of topics explored each Tuesday during those last weeks were:
- fear of ageing
- money
- marriage
- regrets
- the perfect day
The one point that stood out the most for me was the day they discussed Culture.
Below is an extract from the book:
“Dying,” Morrie suddenly says, “is only one thing to be sad over, Mitch. Living unhappily is something else. So many of the people who come to visit me are unhappy.”
“Why?” asks Mitch.
“Well, for one thing, the culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves. We’re teaching the wrong things. And you have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn’t work, don’t buy it. Create your own. Most people can’t do it.”
Mmm…create your own culture. But how does one do that? We hope that the extended time we will be spending outside of our own familiar environment, immersed in the cultural milieu of other countries will be the first step in providing an answer or two.
Before we leave on our travels, I’m going to be passing this book on. After completing the book, we’d like the reader to share with us what one quote, sentence or life lesson – that was shared between Mitch and Morrie – made an impact or inspired them; and to post their comment on this blog entry.
Looking forward to reading your comments…
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