Thursday, April 14, 2011

Tuesdays with Morrie-By: Mitch Albom

"A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops."-Henry Adams

When Mitch Albom graduated from Brandies University, he promised his favorite professor, Morrie Schwartz, that he would keep in touch. However, as the years progressed Mitch continued developing his career as a journalist and lost touch with Morrie.

One night when Mitch is watching television he sees Morrie giving a lecture and decides to try to get in touch. When he finally reaches Morrie he discovers that he was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's Disease, or ALS, and does not have too much time to live. After that Tuesday, they decide to continue visiting together every Tuesday, so that Morrie can share his life lessons. They will call their meetings their last thesis, so that Mitch can write a book sharing the lessons on the meaning of life.

Despite Morrie's condition he remains content in his situation and with his entire life. He teaches Mitch the value of loving people fully, living in the moment, and not becoming caught up in the modern world, only to forget what is important. In addition, Morrie feels that learning to accept death, the inevitable, only helps to teach one how to live. He believes in creating this legacy not only to help Mitch, but also to help others learn to live with his philosophy of life.

Questions

1. If you knew that you only had a short time to live, would you live any differently, or regret anything that you have done?

2. What do you think are life's most important lessons?

3. Morrie believes in loving people wholeheartedly. Do you think it is wise to love so many people, or would that set you up for heartbreak?

28 comments:

Tyler W 1-2 said...

1. If i knew i was dying, i would definitely change they way i do things and i would very much regret not doing more things in my life.

Freddy B. 7-8 said...

1. I agree with Tyler. I would do more random things, like skydiving.

Sarah N. 7-8 said...

I think that many people would do more things, such as traveling, or risky things like skydiving. In the book Morrie chooses to live mostly the same. It is unfortunate that many people would want to live different. However, I think everyone has life dreams they would want to fulfill.

Abby M. 1-2 said...

1. I guess I would want to get more life experiences, like traveling or scube diving, but for the most part I think it is wise not to hange anything and to do what Morrie did nin his life. I think it would be more important to enjoy your life as it was and look at your daily life and see the great things in it instead of going looking for new things to do when your are close to death.

Unknown said...

1. If I knew I only had a short time to live, I would definitely change the way I lived. I would live my life to the fullest and not regret a single thing.

Lisa T. 1-2 said...

1. I may want to change my ways. I don't know about doing new things, because there isn't anything more I want to experience than to look back and say that, although I've had regrets, I'm content with the person that I was more so than the things that I did.
2. In terms of Morrie's lessons, I think the most important lesson is to accept death. Everyone seems to forget that we spend our whole lives dying; there isn't just a period of time during which we've been diagnosed with a fatal condition. People should aim to be happy at the end, no matter when that turns out to be.
3. I think that loving people so much is definitely a set up for heartbreak. People make mistakes and let others down. However, avoiding disappointment is never worth giving up on love, and as humans, we want to trust and we have to face that there are consequences. I guess, despite the risks, it's just part of life.

Ashlyn W. 7-8 said...

1. If I had a short time to live, I would try not to live too much differently. On this earth, we should never take a day for granted because no day is guaranteed. I would try to live life to the fullest.

Sarah N. 7-8 said...

2. I think that Lisa makes a great point. People need to learn to accept death. Even people with a limiting illness do not know the exact date they will die, nor do healthy people. If you learn to accept it, you would learn to live your life to fulfill all your expectations, regardless of the amount of time you supposedly have left.

Lindsay S. 7-8 said...

I think that I would regret not doing certain things in my life up to a point, but if I knew I only had a short time to live then I would want to spend it with the people that matter the most to me.

Megan M 1-2 said...

1. If I had a short time to live I would not think twice about doing the things I wanted to do. I would try and enjoy life as best as I could. I also would not waste my time feeling upset or regretting things, if there were things that I still needed to do, I would do that.

Josie D 7/8 said...

1. I think that if I knew I was dying, I would not have any regrets, but I would try to do things I had never done. I would want to go to places I have always wanted to while I had the chance or do stuff I would not normally dare to do.

Sydney M 7-8 said...

1. I would change my perspective and what I wanted to do in life if I knew I was going to die. I would do more adventurous things and really suck the marrow out of life. I wouldn't regret anything, other than not doing everything I wanted to do. I think everyone should always live life to the fullest, but it's hard to.

Natesa W. 7-8 said...

1. I would try to live a better life, spending my time with the people are the most important to me. I would not waste my time with petty drama.
2.I think it is important to love many people, not everyone is going to end up hurting you. It is important to share your love.

Sevgim A.1-2 said...

3. I think all the people Morrie loved were good people and loved him back. I think if you love someone you have to be prepared for heartbreak but if they're a good person than they'll love you back.

Adam B. 7-8 said...

1. I don't think that I would change the way I live but I would definetly regret not doing some things in my life.

Monica J. 1-2 said...

1.I would regret a lot of things that i have done and yes i would live differently.
2. Treat others the way you want to be treated and dont take what you have for granted.
3.No it is not wise for heartbroken is led to saddness which will be long time when you could be happy.

Monica J. 1-2 said...

1.I would regret a lot of things that i have done and yes i would live differently.
2. Treat others the way you want to be treated and dont take what you have for granted.
3.No it is not wise for heartbroken is led to saddness which will be long time when you could be happy.

Jacob C. 1-2 said...

1. I would not live differently and not stew in my regrets. I would just carry on life normally.

2. The most important lessons in life come from your experience and your failures. Experiences and failures combine to teach you lessons on what to do and how to live.

3. I think you should love everyone in the sense that you respect them and are genuinely interested in their life.

Spencer P. 1-2 said...

1. I would definately do everything I wanted to do without the fear of consequence.
2. Be with the ones you love and live like you will die tomorrow.
3. Heartbreak is part of life, it is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all.

Laura P 7-8 said...

3.) I think loving people is a part of life. And people leaving your life is a part of it as well.

Avi D. 7/8 said...

1. I would definitely live much more differently. I would disregard long term health risks such as eating junk food and fast food. I agree with Freddy, I would do random things such as skydiving. Above all I would travel to places around the world that a person should see before they die

Mia G. 1-2 said...

1. i have absolutely no regrets whatsoever.
i would live completely differently. id live 100% for myself and no one else. all me for the short amount of time i actually has left available. id love to know when i was going to die actually.

2. people over all else. material possessions, honestly, mean nothing without those you love to share them with.

3. yes! im sooo open and wear my heart on my sleeve completely all of the time and im happier this way. remain optimistic and have faith in people. if you look at it the right way they will never seem to let you down.

Kaitlyn K 7-8 said...

If I knew that i had a short time to live then i would travel and spend time with family.
I think that it is wise to love so many people because the people you are around influence you and your life style.

Sarah H 1-2 said...

If I knew I was dying I would change things in my life without a doubt. I would spend every living moment with the ones I love most and I would live my life to the fullest.

Hannah K. 1-2 said...

1. I think people always have regrets, but if I knew I was dying I'd be more likely to try and fix them sooner. I think I would also try harder to do all of the things I want to do, before its too late.
2. I think learning to love your friends and family over all else is the most important lesson.
3. I think it is hard to love someone you don't know very well, so you should know everyone you love enough that you know they wouldn't hurt you.

Hannah J. 7-8 said...

1. I wouldn't regret anything, i would have the comfort of knowing taht i lived my life the way i wanted.
2. I think life's most important lessons are the lessons we learn while living, i dont think one can really trump another.
3. I think it is wise because you can either love them while you have them, or just go through life not loving at all, and that would make the world a very coldhearted place. You can always make more love.

Ganielle D. 1-2 said...

1) There are several things that I've done in my lifetime that I regret, but these are things that have made me who I am -- Would I live my life differently? I would probably try to do everything I never got to, but I probably wouldn't change.
2) To love and to be love, definitely. And to love yourself because RuPaul (my fashion idol, just sayin') always says, "If you don't love yourself, how can you know how to love anyone else?"
3) In my opinion, there are different levels of love. You have the people you barely known ("I LOVE Justin Bieber", screams the 11-year-old tween), the people you are IN love with (husbands/wives/BF/GF), and then the people that you genuinely couldn't live with out (like friends and family) -- So, depending on the type of love, heartbreak is...optional.

AnaleeL7-8 said...

1) If I knew I was dying I wouldnt let myself get worked up about the little stuff or spend my time worrying about things that really dont matter.