Tuesdays With Morrie Essays

Mitch Albom's Tuesdays With Morrie provides a stirring and unexpectedly uplifting story of his uncanny bond with his old college professor Morrie Schwartz. Mitch Albom attended college at Brandeis and took every single one of the sociology professor's classes. Mitch and Morrie possess a relationship between an educator and a student that handily surpasses just school work matters; Morrie and Mitch have a warm friendship where they eat lunch together in the cafeteria while the recent college student refers to his dearest professor "coach". At Mitch's graduation, the young man gifts an engraved briefcase to his cherished teacher, promising to keep in touch. However, as Mitch enters the real world he fails to follow through on his promise, and...show more content...

Undeniably, the discourse between Mitch and Morrie provides inner glimpses into the faults present in our society, as well as commentary on how one's mentality changes once they learn they are going to die. One of the old professor's greatest quotes from the book is, "Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live... when you realize you are going to die, you see everything much differently" (Albom 82–83). However, from an educational point of view, I would not recommend an Anatomy class to read this book because the main focus of the story is not how the disease is affecting Morrie's body, but rather how Morrie's spirit stays optimistic and dynamic despite the death sentence that confines him. As the story is told from the point of view of Mitch, symptoms and treatment that Morrie experiences are mere side notes that are sprinkled into some chapters to convey the progression of ALS. Most of the composition of this work focuses on the inspiring themes and morals that Morrie had no shortage

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Cassandra Stephens December 3, 2012 Psy. 120– Book Review Professor Dr. Priebe Summary: Tuesdays with Morrie, was based on a true story about friendship and lessons learned. It's about a sports writer, Mitch and former sociology professor, Morrie, who is in his last days of life after being diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and their rekindled relationship after many years. They first met on the campus grounds at Brandeis University. This never forgotten relationship was simply picked back up at a crucial time in both Mitch's and Morrie's life.

After seeing his professor in an interview on the show "Nightline", Mitch is reminded of a promise he made sixteen years earlier to keep in touch. Since the airing of that...show more content...

The most significant of them all was dealing with ALS. ALS is a painful disease that attacks the muscles. Due to this disease he was unable to do the things he loved (dancing) and eventually daily activities (we often take for granted). He loses the instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs). These include preparing meals, managing finances, going to work, and so on. He also lost his ability to do activities of daily living (ADLs), which include: eating, bathing, dressing, toileting, and being able to get in and out of a bed or chair (Steinberg, p. 554). A prime example of his lost of ADLs was when he could no longer wipe his bottom. Yet, another is when he talks about him needing assistance with his swim wear; as a result his privacy being lost. In addition to the complications that occur with the disease, the book also mentions signs of the primary aging process (gray hair). Regardless of his failing health he found happiness, joy and even humor in it all and until the end. In the book, Morrie is in his last stage of development, integrity vs. despair. Erikson believed each period in life was a struggle between two opposing factors. He regarded this psychosocial crisis in later life as integrity vs. despair. Due to the increased declines and losses that occur in this stage, it is easy for many to resort to despair. However, the challenge is to achieve and maintain integrity, which can be done by accepting the past,

Introduction

Basic Consideration

Literary work is the media that authors used to describe the social life through fact and fiction story by using an academic writing and literary words. It is have several kinds through poetry, drama, short story and novel. History record that literary work such as novel is one of the media that the author uses to create an imagination and to share an information to the reader based on the real stroy include the character. As Agatha Taormina (2008) defined on his article "novel is arises from the desire to depict and to interpret human character. The reader of a novel is both entertained and aided in a deeper perception of life's problems". An admition, novel is a literary works that differ with short story,...show more content...

Furthermore, the novel is reflected the true story, where contains fiction to build the literary work. Therefore, this paper will explore the personality traits of the main character in "Tuesdays with Morrie" novel by using Arlow's theory (1995).

Scope Of Study

Study of personality is generally viewed by interview and test, whether in sanitary or literature. However, this study is focuses on an investigate Morrie's character that contains the features of personality traits Tuesdays with Morrie novel by using Data card analysis from the theory of personality (Arlow's theory), where the text and the elements of novel as the media.

Research Question

What principle of personality traits in the main character of Albom's Tuesdays with Morrie based on Arlow's

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In "Tuesdays with Morrie", Morrie expresses how through aging we grow. Aging is not a state of decay, but growth on who you are becoming, which most people are oblivious to that point of view. People unlike Morrie see age as a eternal clock, that only stops ticking when they're heart stops ticking. And it's because of that mindset that age is only a decay, that it prohibits people from seeing it as a form of growth. That's why Morrie expresses that "As you grow, you learn more. If you stayed twenty–two, you'd always be as ignorant as you were at twenty–two". Me personally, I agree with Morrie's viewpoint on aging. I say that because aging truly is a more of a state of growth then a decay. If you think about it, if age wasn't a state of growth,

The book, Tuesdays with Morrie, is a very inspirational book to many different people. There are many things to learn from reading this book by Mitch Albom. In his book, Morrie, who is just about going to pass away, teaches Mitch many different lessons about life. The most interesting lessons was when Morrie taught Mitch how to deal with emotions, when he talked about death, and when he talked about love. First of all, on the sixth Tuesday, Morrie and Mitch talked about emotions. In a separate chapter they also talked about being able to forgive. When Morrie was teaching Mitch about emotions he focused on not feeling sorry for yourself. He said that he allows himself a good cry in the morning, then stops himself only after a few minutes. After a good cry he then looks forward to all the good things that will happen the rest of the day, and feels better. The reason he does this is because he has so much built up...show more content...

"When you realize you are going to die, you see everything much differently. . . Learn how to die, and you learn how to live. (pg 83)" What Morrie was trying to say here was how nobody goes around day to day thinking about death. Most people just ignore the truth that someday everyone will eventually die. They get into a routine of waking up, going to work, watching TV, etc. that they miss out on so many other important things in life. The years seem to fly by because they are stuck in a never ending cycle because they never do anything new. For most people, once they realize that they are going to die, they immediately start making a list of all the things that they missed out on that they still want to accomplish. But, if you learn how to die early enough in life, and face the reality that today could be your last day, you can prepare yourself for that day the whole rest of your life by doing all the things now instead of

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Tuesdays with Morrie Essay

Tuesdays with Morrie. The symbolic interactionism is an excellent sociological perspective that allows us to focus on micro activities and to analyze our society which is the product of everyday's life. Tuesdays with Morrie is more than a simple book, more than a romance one; it is a great book that teaches us many of life's greatest lessons. An analysis of this book using the SI perspective and concepts such as meaning making, status,impression management, looking–glass self, role taking, role making, and self–presentation helps us understand the real meaning of Morrie's words and lessons.

Morrie Schwartz was a professor at the Brandeis University before learning that he has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). ALS is a brutal, ...show more content... He does not see it as something fatal, does not worry, and even make some jokes about it. Just because he gives it another meaning, he lives better and happier with his family. There are also many other examples such as money, power, and fame. For many of us, these last three things are essential. We think that they are requirements for our happiness, but it is not always true. We think this way because of the meaning we create. Morrie helps us know that other things such as love and family are more important. To continue, self–presentation is a concept in which people try to influence the perception of their image. It can be good or bad, it depends on the person. Morrie try to influence his image by teaching to other people, by loving his wife, children, and friends, by doing the right things, and also by always staying himself. He tries to be a mentor; he knows that he is not the best person on Earth, but he tries to do good things. Mitch is completely different. In the beginning, the only thing that matters to him is his status. The most important things for him were money, expensive cars, and fame, but not love. He just tries to portray himself as a great sports reporter. Nothing else matters to him, not even his wife. Morrie and Mitch present themselves differently, but the example to follow is clearly Morrie. There is also the looking–glass self is a concept by which we think of ourselves the way people see us. By impression management, we mean that our Get more content

Tuesdays With Morrie Essay

Tuesdays with Morrie

Critical Analysis Essay

In an effort to share the "last class" he had with his college sociology professor, Mitch Album wrote, "Tuesdays with Morrie." This moving account of the life lessons that Morrie taught him is a beautiful tribute to a man whose compassion and love for humanity made him a favorite among those who knew him. Though stricken with the debilitating disease ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) and knowing death was swiftly approaching Morrie continued to help others until his body no longer allowed him to do so. Album uses time sequence, characterization and point of view to chronicle the experiences he had and the lessons he learned while visiting with his friend every Tuesday during that...show more content...

It makes no difference. The discussions give me an excuse to talk to him, fatherly conversations I cannot have with my own father, who would like me to be a lawyer" (Album 47).

Album's use of time sequence gives readers a look into the development of his early friendship with Morrie. Additionally it illustrates his own personal development and the changes he went through from a young college student to a near middle–aged man. Written as though he is having a personal conversation with the reader Album makes quick emotional connections with admirers of this book. He accomplishes this by writing primarily from the first person point of view. By doing this he openly shows his thoughts and feelings as he learns from Morrie's wisdom while at the same time witnessing the changes in his mentor's body as he moves closer to death. "I did this mostly because I didn't want him to see my eyes, to know what I was thinking, that I had been, for much of my life since graduation, pursuing these very things he had been railing against –bigger toys, nicer house"(Album 127). When he describes Morrie's childhood memories however, he uses the third person point of view. "He did this to keep her memory alive. Incredibly, Morrie had been told by his father never to talk about her. It was a terrible burden to Morrie. For years, the only evidence Morrie had of

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At first glance, the movie, Tuesdays With Morrie, appeared to be a movie about an ex–student learning a final lesson about life from his dying ex–professor. But, as the movie progressed, I felt it was actually a movie about two dying men. Morrie, the old professor, was in the final stages of ALS and physically dying. Mitch, the former student was a commitment–phobic living an unfulfilled life and spiritually dying. Spiritual death is reversible, so Mitch tried to gain some of the wisdom and learn some of the lessons that Morrie had already learned in his happily fulfilled life.

On the other hand, physical death is irreversible and Morrie realized that his time was growing short. He had concerns, such as becoming increasingly dependent on...show more content...

In fact, his job was his main priority. Maybe he was afraid to face his fears and kept his mind off of them by absorbing himself in work. But, Morrie made Mitch face those fears, taught him that love was the most important and powerful force in life and without it, we're nothing. Mitch ultimately realized that his priorities were backwards and sought more meaning in his life. He learned to take time for others, especially Janie, and show affection. Love and commitment no longer scared him and he was able to savage his relationship. Morrie essentially saved Mitch's relationship with Janine and made him realize that there was more to life than just work.

Mitch helped improve Morrie's final days because he was very ill and required physical and emotional help. Physically, he was unable to do things like move, dress himself or even cough. He feared loosing his independence. But, Mitch, his wife and his caretakers relieved those fears. They helped him with his physical and emotional needs. He was constantly surrounded by people, who loved and cared for him. In a way, he was able to live the life he had through Mitch.

Everyone needs someone to talk to and Morrie was no exception. Conversations with Mitch forced him to think about some of the adversities in his own life such as his strained relationship with his father. Morrie's father had been a cold, distant man who easily detached himself from people. His detachment was evident when he Get more content

"The lifecycle of a dying man" In North America, a hibiscus means a perfect wife or woman. In Victorian times, giving a hibiscus meant that the giver was acknowledging the receiver's delicate beauty. In China, hibiscuses symbolize the fleeting and beauty of fame or personal glory. Both men and women can receive this flower. "Tuesdays with Morrie" byMitch Albom the meaning of life is critical. Morrie is a Sociology professor, at the end of his life he connects with one former student. As he battles ALS, he meets with him every Tuesday to discuss life's topics. Mitch is the author of the book, who tells the book from the meetings with Morrie. Mitch was a student of Morrie's who said that he would keep in touch. However, contact was lost and...show more content...

Little did he know that the flower was a model of his own life. When Morrie first found out about ALS, the flower was beautiful, it had all of it's leaves and petals, but as Morrie's health started to decline so did the flowers. People come and go through life that does not change us, it's the experiences that we share together that do. "'Whenever people ask me about having children or not having children, I never tell them what to do,' Morrie said now, looking at a photo of his oldest son. "I simply say, 'There is no experience like having children.' That's all. There is no substitute for it. You cannot do it with a friend. You cannot do it with a lover. If you want the experience of having complete responsibility for another human being, and to learn how to love and bond in the deepest way, then you should have children." (Albom,

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Tuesdays with Morrie was awakening, yet, heartbreaking and I couldn't put the book down. It was a story of friendship that turned to love, a story of family, a story of trust, and a story of death.

As I read each page, I felt closer to Morrie Schwartz as if I knew him personally. Morrie, the main character in the book, was a kind, sensitive soul. He believed in humanity, and enjoyed sharing his wisdom with others. As a sociology professor at Brandeis University he taught and mentored many student and this is how he came to befriend one special student, Mitch Albom whom is the narrator of the story.

After college graduation, Mitch lost touch with Professor Morrie, despite promises otherwise. After years of no contact, Mitch saw his professor being interviewed on Nightline and this is how he learned of his old Professors diagnosis, ALS. Soon after, Mitch contacted Morrie and this is how their relationship was rekindled.

Mitch spent fourteen Tuesday's with Morrie, discussing the world, self–pity, regrets, death, family, emotions, fear of aging, money, love, marriage, culture, forgiveness, the perfect day, and lastly, how to say goodbye. All of the topics they discussed really touched my heart because these are the things that really matter in life, yet they are so easy to lose touch with.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as ALS, is what took over Morrie's body. The prognosis of ALS is death, and in the final chapter of the book, Morrie would physically (not

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Mitch Albom is a an American Journalist who has written many books of the course of his career. His first well selling book he wrote was Tuesdays with Morrie, a story about him reconnecting with his old college professor for one final lesson, his own death by Lou Gehrig's disease, more commonly known as ALS. ALS is a neurodegenerative disease that causes deterioration of nerve cells, and there is no known cure. They talk about Morrie's life leading up to the diagnosis, and how his life was affected by it forever. Mr. Albom refers to ALS as a lit candle, slowly progressing throughout the whole body of the candle. Tuesdays with Morrieshows that our culture is wrapped up in our own selves that we rarely take the time to care for others until...show more content...

As Morrie's date grew more tangible, Morrie began to become more wise and more open to the world, and more self–reflecting on how he had acted over the years of his life. This usually happens to many people, but sadly, not all people get wiser with age. Many stories have this type of plot line, where someone wakes up to the world around them, and they get smarter. That was even the plot line for The Matrix movie series. But in Morrie's case, he wasn't the one who was waking up, it was the people around him waking up to Morrie dying, that Morrie wouldn't die because of old age, but of a disease that has no cure. The people around him started to realize how fragile the human existence is compared to the universe, because it will carry on no matter who you are. Most people think that they are invincible, that nothing can take them out, but something simple that's not even alive like a virus can kill you, it shows how easy it is to die. Morrie did talk about humanity's fragile existence once in the book, talking about the Yugoslavian Civil War, "The other night, on TV, I saw people in Bosnia running across the street, getting fired upon, killed, innocent victims ... and I just started to cry. I could feel their anguish as if was my own." Morrie did not know any of those people who were killed in the conflict, Get more content

In Tuesdays with Morrie there are many important life lessons; in fact there are so many that it was hard to choose the three that I thought were the most important. In order to pick just three I had to think about the lessons I need to focus on in my life, the lessons I need to remind myself of daily. Everyone needs reminders in their daily lives to keep them going and remind them of what is important. Life gets busy, and I often times lose focus of what is truly important and the lessons in Tuesdays with Morriewas the reminder I needed to slow down and focus on what is important in life.

The first lesson I chose was, "Sometimes you can't believe what you see; you have to believe what you feel." (Albom 61) Morrie taught students to trust people based on feeling and not just on what they see. Looks do not determine how trustworthy a person is. In today's society, it is often a misconception that people with tattoos, gauges, long hair, etc. are bad people and people who are clean cut and attend church every Sunday are good people. This is an example of trusting people based on what you see. Morrie is trying to...show more content... Like it says on page 190 of the text, "He was changing until the day he said good–bye." Professor Morrie didn't give up on life, because he knew it was not too late to change and to continue to make a difference in other people's lives. This is a major lesson the book taught me, because often times I think to myself, "I'm too old to start over, I can't do this at my age." In fact that is not true, it is never too late, anything can be done in life, no matter how late in life you are, and Morrie was a great example of that. He continued teaching until the day he passed, and even taught someone after he was gone. It was never too late for him, and he knew that, he made that a part of his everyday

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Tuesdays With Morrie : Death And Dying Essay

Tuesdays with Morrie: Death and Dying Paper

Priyanka Parikh

MCPHS University

Tuesdays with Morrie: Death and Dying Paper In the book Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom, the main characters include Morrie Schwartz, a sociology professor at Brandeis University, who develops a fatal neuromuscular disease called Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig's disease, in which his body slowly deteriorates in front of his eyes, but he still as sharp as a tack, as his neurological and cognitive skills are still intact. Mitch is one of Morrie's students, who has aspirations of becoming a musician since graduating from college. Who develops a strong friendship and relationship with his professor from conversations on Tuesdays beginning at Brandeis. Peter, is Mitch's brother who lives in Spain, who is suffering from pancreatic cancer. Throughout the book Mitch realizes how important family is, and tries to reach out to Peter and reestablish his relationship with his brother that they had when they were younger.Tuesdays with Morrieis about a relationship between a student (Mitch) and his favorite professor (Morrie Schwartz) that regrows after 16 years since Mitch's graduation. Mitch who has been trying to accomplish as many things as he can during his life. By meeting weekly on Tuesdays with his professor Morrie, like he used to during his undergraduate days Mitch realizes that he has been chasing the wrong things in life. He re–lights a good memory and Get more content

Tuesdays with Morrie Essay

"It is through literature that we learn about life. Through literature we profit from the experiences of others, comparing them with our own." –Bob Cameron The essay question: Using reader–response theory and the quote by Bob Cameron, discuss how effectively Mitch Albom, author of Tuesdays with Morrie, uses plot and story, character development, point of view, theme, and symbols to convey his mesage. Include your personal thoughts and views, as well as textual references, to support your opinions. In Mitch Albom's Tuesday's with Morrie, Albom detailed his personal experiences with his professor Morrie Schwartz. Mitch also expressed how influential Morrie was to his friends, relatives, patients, and coworkers. Within this essay,...show more content...

Within the memoir, Morrie and Mitch were the main rounded characters, while a flat character was any character other than Mitch and Morrie such as their friends, family, and coworkers. If the author could have developed some of the flat characters the reader would have profited from their experiences. Of the flat characters, Morrie's family required the greatest need for the development from flat to round since they spent the most time with Morrie and were most likely suffering from more emotional pain than Mitch. However, considering Cameron's quote, if the flat characters were to even be developed, then that may have taken away from the underlying plot, theme, or even Morrie and Mitch's relationship. The point of view was exclusively presented through Mitch. Mitch had the ability to communicate Morrie's perception, how Mitch described himself, and how Mitch compared himself before and after Morrie's death. Mitch described Morrie's personality and how he had felt about things by describing most of his earlier experiences with Morrie and by describing his personality after Morrie had been diagnosed with ALS. Throughout the memoir, Mitch characterized his personality as being a person who "never [cried]" (51), "traded lots of dreams for a bigger paycheck, and... never... realized

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Morrie's Message If you only had a few months left to live due to a disease how would you choose to live? Would you let it take control of you and wither away, or would you make the most out of your final days by doing all you could? In the novel Tuesdays with Morrie, Mitch Albom gains a new understanding of life's greatest lessons through his dying professor's, Morrie Schwartz, eyes. This book helped open my eyes as well and realize what is truly important in your life and the things you should make a priority. Between our textbook, SocialGerontology, and the novel, Tuesday's with Morrie, they both touched a lot of important key points of aging and what a person is ultimately faced with as they are nearing their death. The top three...show more content...

Every day a person experiences different emotions. The key to experiencing emotions is how one chooses to handle them and how they display themselves. In our textbook it mentions Elizabeth Kubler– Ross' process of dying and this deals with the emotions people are faced with when it comes to dying and how they cope with them. Ross's first stage is shock and denial and in the novel Morrie displays shock and denial when the doctor initially told him he has Lou Gehrig's disease. "My old professor, meanwhile, was stunned by the normalcy of the day around him. Shouldn't the world stop? Don't they know what has happened to me?" (Albom, 8) As Morrie faces each of the five stages he finally reaches the last one which is acceptance and adjustment. He explains to Mitch the process of detaching oneself and all the emotions one will face. "If you hold back on the emotions– if you don't allow yourself to go all the way through them– you can never get to being detached, you're too busy being afraid..." "But by throwing yourself into these emotions, by allowing yourself to dive in, all the way, over your head even, you experience them fully and completely. You know what pain is. You know what love is. You know what grief is. And only then can you say, 'All right, I have experienced that emotion. I recognize that emotion. Now I need to detach from that emotion for a moment" (Albom,

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Changing is a process everyone goes through in their life whether it's for the best or worst. It sometimes makes people do the things that they will regret or make them proud of who they are. Most changes come from a turning point in life that can lead people into believing that they have to be a certain way in order to succeed in life. In the Memoir Tuesdays with Morrieby Mitch Albom, Mitch had changed throughout the years after college but wasn't satisfied with who he was. That was until Morrie came back into his life and became his " Coach" again after 16 years. Albom writes about the changes he has experienced throughout Morrie's lessons by using personal anecdotes, flashbacks and creating pathos in order to portray himself as a dynamic character and how Morrie's value of love changed Mitch throughout the whole story. Albom uses flashback in the beginning when he gives Morrie a present at graduation to show how Mitch was very close with Morrie, saying," I bought this that day before...I didn't want to forget him"(4). Mitch is able to show that all that changed by using a personal anecdote of what occurred to him after college and takes notice of how "years after graduation hardened me(him) into someone quite different"(14). The death of Mitch's uncle was a huge turning point in his life. Mitch left his dream of becoming a Musician and returned to school where he earned a Master's degree in Journalism. In order to have happiness, Mitch believes he must have a job that

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"Turn on the faucet. Wash yourself with emotion. It won't hurt you. It will only help. if you let the fear inside, if you pull it on like a familiar shirt, then you can say 'All right, its just fear, I dont have to let it control me. I see it for it is."(Albom 105) Tuesdays with Morrie is about an old man dying of AlS teaching a younger man, Mitch, how to love, forgive, and be grateful. While readingTuesdays with Morrie, I found many examples of what someone can learn by reading the book. There are many lessons to be learned throughout the entire novel. Morrie teaches us so many ways to become a better person in life. For example, he strongly believes that you should not be scared or ashamed about death. Morrie brings up death many times...show more content... He talks about how people go through the same exact routine every day, doing the same thing. Society has taught us how they think is the right way and everybody believes it. So people do what they think they have to do. On page 83 of Tuesdays with Morrie, Morrie declares "So many people walk around with a meaningless life. they seem half–asleep, even when they're busy doing things they think are important. This is because they are chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning." Society doesn't only have an effect on everyday life, but it also affects how people see other people. "It's the same for women not being thin enough, or men not being rich enough. It's just what our culture would have you believe. Don't believe it."(Albom 155) In Tuesdays with Morrie, Morrie firmly believes that people do not need to be so materialistic. For instance "You don't need the latest sports car, you don't need the biggest house."(Albom 126) In life, everyone thinks they need to show off what they have and gloat about how cool they are that they are because they have it. Morrie on the other hand,didn't think this way. He didn't need anything extravagant. Morrie said "Money is not a substitute for tenderness, and power is not a substitute Get

Summary of Tuesdays with Morrie

Tuesdays with Morrie, is a look a man dying from a terminal illness and how he chose to deal with his prognosis. The book was written by Morrie Schwartz's former student, Mitch Albom. Mitch was busy with his career, but one night while watching Nightline in 1995, he rediscovered his old professor, dying with Lou Gehrig's disease. Lou Gehrig's disease is also known as ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosisis). ALS is a fatal degenerative disease of the nervous system marked by progressive muscle weakness and atrophy. It is a form of motor neuron disease.

Morrie did what most people who are aging and dying usually don't do; he decided to face death with inner dignity and he taught a young man how to live...show more content...

Morrie did not lose his ability to love in the midst of losing his battle with ALS.

It was interesting for someone to be so candid about death, how it felt to know that one is dying, and using this as a platform to share with others the journey. Morrie was the epitome of knowing how to die. He possessed altruistic qualities, the belief that acting for the benefit of others is right and good, no matter what one's own circumstances may be.

Morrie was generative in life and generative in the midst of facing his own mortality. His generative behavior was shaped by his unique life experiences, including experiences of suffering. Leaving a legacy to succeeding generations was tied to suffering experiences, to the personal and communal identities that emerged from suffering, to the importance of intergenerational and intragenerational community, and to what men believed others needed from them. Morrie told a story about a male wave that was worried about crashing into the ocean. The male wave met a female wave that was happily head toward the shore. The male wave said you are going to crash into the shore and you will no longer exist. The female wave said I am not just a wave; I am part of the ocean. Morrie did not feel he was just an individual human being, but a part of the whole universe.

It will be important for anyone working

Tuesdays with Morrie, a memoir written by Mitch Alborn, features a friendship between a man who is involved in a fast–paced career and his old professor, who is dying from ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease. Throughout the memoir the professor, Morrie Schwartz provides the life's lessons that help Mitch reevaluate what he is living for. In the middle of the memoir, Mitch said to Morrie," How useful would it be to put a daily limit on self–pity". Mitch brought up a good point because people can't just sulk around all day and be depressed. We should in brace thatfeeling for a bit and let it go.

Self–pity can be as dangerous as any other emotion. Self–pity it makes people build a wall between yourself and failure. By building a wall people won't

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The focus throughout Tuesdays with Morrie was on life. Many might see it as the story of death, but it is actually the story life. Morrie might talk a little on how he meets death, but what he is talking about is living at the end of his life. Mitch writes, "Now here we were . . . . . . Dying man talks to living man, tells him what he should know."(Albom, 133) When a timer is placed on Morrie's remaining days, he obtains a dying man's perspective on what is truly important in life, and how to incorporate in life this importance. I looked for parts of the book that pertain directly to my life; I focused on this concept while reading this book. My thesis remained elusive. There wasn't a Tuesday that jumped out at me, and then I came to the...show more content...

Morrie becomes Mitch's guru and life–coach in earnest, as he becomes Mitch's ambassador to death. Mitch is caught in the nowhere–man, rat–race lifestyle. He is unfulfilled in his life and can't see why. He has suckled from Mother Culture's teat, and the poison it yields. Mitch shows he has bought into consumerism, when he says "I was part of the media thunderstorm that now soaks our country. I was in demand." (Albom, 16) he thinks this is success, and success is happiness. Morrie reveals why Mitch's definition of happiness is unfulfilling, because culture's poison has been packaged as nourishment, meaningfulness and life itself. Mother culture is always whispering in your head, and the voice you hear is your own. Culture is not reality, just the mass acceptance of values and behavior that one is indoctrinated in from birth.

Morrie outlined how American culture was bad for the soul in many ways, he states "People are only mean when they're threatened, and that's what our culture does. That's what our economy does. ...And when you get threatened, you start looking out for only yourself."(Albom, 154) Morrie sees why people are selfish and they feel a sense of entitlement, and he still has compassion for them. I struggle with feeling compassion in a culture that sees compassion as weakness and charity as a thing to be exploited. There was a great revelation for me when Morrie's talks about cultures problem, ". . . the biggest defect we human being

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