Tuesdays with Morrie - Essay Example

Introduction The story in the book is particular heartbreaking to read because it tells the story of a man who is dying slowly but giving his time torecount all the details of his impending death but perhaps more importantly, giving important lessons in life. This is quite inevitable as people nearing their death can now look backwards and reminisce what is important in their lives. However, a reader is left with the impression that there is indeed many things in life worth living for and not simply giving up and succumbing to depression and resignation. The idea is to always be able to look at death itself straight in the eye and fight back no matter how hopeless the situation can be and then be on the positive side of things, to look at the future in an optimistic way.The professors future looked short as he has only a few months left to live but he managed to touch everyone around him, from family, relatives, peers, colleagues, and even complete strangers who saw his interview with Ted Koppel when it was shown on television. This paper discusses the important things in life worth knowing about to be happy on earth, in particular, how to live life fully by learning how to die gracefully. Discussion Despite being diagnosed with ALS with a very bad prognosis, Morrie Schwartz, the old and sickly professor mentioned earlier, was fiercely determined to live a useful life. He is of the belief that dying people need not be entirely useless; instead he encouraged all people who knew him to come and visit him if they had the time and the inclination so he could still be available to listen to their problems and perhaps give them a piece of useful advice. Morrie Schwartz was indeed a wonderful listener who can help other people because he had empathy and understanding; by letting them unload their problems to him, he would willingly listen despite his pains from the ailment. He was fond of aphorisms, of which the statement, “once you learn how to die, you learn how to live,” he said (Albom 82) had a very profound meaning for everyone who will listen. What he had meant with this statement is that people looking at impending death realize how precious life and valuable is, that these people suddenly realize the importance of the idea of living life to the fullest which means enjoy life without any hesitations or reservations about what other people may think and not waste a minute of it on trivial things that do not really matter in the grand sweep of life. In other words, most people go through life as if sleep-walking, doing things automatically out of sheer habit or because it is what the other people expected of them, in an effort to conform to the demands of culture. However, it was mentioned by Morrie that he is a non-conformist and does things his own way. He does not mind what other people may think of him and their opinions of him do not matter to him in anyway or let these affect him. Learning how to live is to be happy. Looking at death face to face makes people realize how precious life is, so by realizing their mortality, they know how to live life more fully by enjoying every minute of it without any feelings of regret, be ready to commit mistakes but also be ready to admit these mistakes and correct them, so a person should not be hesitant. He said people will get to appreciate life even more once they are on the brink of losing of it. An important thing (like life) is better appreciated if one is about to lose it altogether. It was on the fourth Tuesday when Morrie opened up about death, talking about it in general terms. He did not exactly referenced his own coming death in a particular way, but he said that everyone knows they will die some day but everybody does not believe it. They do not believe in the sense that it will happen to them sooner or later but of the opinion it can happen to someone else but not to them in particular. This truism strikes a chord among people because this is literally true; people think of death as something quite distant and so these same people are in effect in denial about death. Morrie emphasized this fact with his very incisive view on life and death; once has to learn how to die in order to live fully. It is when people do not believe that death can happen to them at anytime that they will waste their valuable time, when in fact, life is very short. Years can go by in a blur and people soon realize they had gotten old already and wonder where all the years went without accepting the fact they wasted their years on doing things not worth fighting about. Examples are possessions, jobs, titles, honors, awards, and other immaterial things which may seem significant at first glance but in retrospect, do not matter at all and with the passage of time, very trivial. In this case, the very acceptance of death as inevitable will let people view things differently and this realization makes them value and appreciate life all the more. If people view things differently, they will act differently too, in the sense there will be a sense of urgency to their actions and they will choose all their actions wisely or exceedingly well because there is limited time on earth to do good things. Moreover, time is linear and will not revert back; time that is wasted is lost forever. Because death is final, then people should realize that their time on earth is but a fleeting moment when compared to eternity and so act accordingly as if there is not a moment to be lost. Put differently, every moment counts a lot. Just because people do not know when death will come should they tarry or waste time. Once people know they are going to die (although not knowing the exact moment), it gives them a new perspective on life. So knowing how to die gives a tremendous insight into how to live a good life. The idea is really consistent with the philosophical idea of detachment in which a person is supposed to let go of his or her emotions or attachment to or desire for material things. In the major religions of the world, especially the Eastern faiths of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Taoism, detachment is an important precept because it gives freedom to the believer by renunciation of earthly desires and shifting focus to spiritual matters. This is the kind of detachment Morrie discussed (Albom 103), of fully immersing oneself in life. Detachment in the book means fully immersing in an experience and to soak it up fully. This is how to enjoy life to the fullest, but then, it is detachment that allows a person to move back a bit and be able to fully analyze that experience because it was something that he knows already. Emotions like fear, terror, anxiety, and worry are best experienced first but the experience leaves that person better able to put things in a proper perspective later on. Fear can be a self-perpetuating emotion; a person who is fearful tends to put unnecessary stress on himself and the tendency is to exaggerate the fear due to wild imaginings. As former president Franklin D. Roosevelt famously announced, “the only thing to fear is fear itself.” A very good example of detachment is when a person experiences loneliness; after that experience, this person knows what it is like to be really lonely and is unlikely to feel lonely again. People who already experienced loneliness before will in the future be quite unlikely to feel lonely because they will now seek other peoples companionship and engage with them more fully. Conclusion Another important topic in the book is that of aging. It is similar to death, in that these same people deny they will grow old someday and are vain enough to spend large sums of the monies they earn to maintain their youth forever, which is impossible. They know nobody is immune to getting old based on biological science and yet they will not acknowledge this fact. Morrie also discussed the importance of love and how it should govern human relationships. This is because if everything else is gone, it is love that will see a person through his troubles. In fact, love can be beyond the grave, in the sense the people who loved a deceased person is able to relish his stay on earth by keeping his memory alive in their hearts. In Morries case, he wanted to die serenely with all his loved ones at this bedside to say goodbyes. Additionally, people should not be influenced by the material culture around them in which money is god. People should instead concentrate on the things money cannot buy, such as happiness or good health, or an unblemished reputation. A person should strive to create his own culture and so dance to his own beat, like what Morrie did once, and to be authentic and forgiving always. It is by forgiving when people achieve the catharsis they desperately seek all the time. Any day is a perfect day to forgive someone and then forgive oneself too and live or die happy. Work Cited Albom, Mitch. Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, A Young Man, and Lifes Greatest Lesson. New York, NY, USA: Knopf-Doubleday Publishing, 2010. Read More