[BOOK REVIEW] Life Learning that I’ve Got from Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
How do you feel if you have someone who helps you understand life, who does not judge you even if you make mistakes, and who shows you how life works? Morrie Schwartz, Mitch Albom’s college professor, told him this. When Mitch Albom was a college student at Brandeis University, he had a favorite professor named Morrie Schwartz, who taught sociology. Morrie becomes Mitch’s mentor, but after Mitch graduates from college, they stop communicating.
They are reunited after a long time away and Mitch’s work as a sports journalist. However, the situations are different. Morrie is dying as a result of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Morrie tried to answer the kinds of questions life asked Albom every Tuesday in his bed afterward. The topics range from death, fear, family life, community, how to forgive, and also the meaning of life.
I’d like to share something valuable I learned from this book.
Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live
In this life, I often feel like I’m wasting time on things that aren’t as important. Not only that, but I have the feeling that I do not live my life with gratitude for the blessings that God has bestowed upon me. Through this book, I realized that death will provide a new perspective on life.
No one believed they would die, as Morie stated. Of course, if we believe that, we will do our best and see life from a different perspective. We look around as if we’ve just seen it, so everything we see is pleasant. Morie mentions in the book that
“most of us all walk around as if we’re sleepwalking. We really don’t experience the world fully, because we’re half-asleep, doing things we automatically think we have to do.”
And facing death changes all that
“Oh, yes. You strip away all that stuff and you focus on essentials. When you realize you are going to die, you see everything much differently.”
I agree with Morrie, and imagine that if I were facing death, I would only focus on what is important to me and do my best. Unfortunately, I am too preoccupied with everything and am not living my life. On the other hand, as Morie also stated in the book, one thing we almost forget is that we are obsessed with material things and neglect spirituality.
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