REACTION PAPER

Tuesday’s with Morrie

Author: Mitch Albom is a newspaper sports reporter and husband whose busy life is filled with work and
travel. He has become so absorbed in his work that it consumes his life.

Synopsis:

Morrie Schwartz was Mitch’s favorite college professor at Brandeis University. Although sixteen years
have passed since that time, he still remembers his graduation day: he says goodbye to Morrie and
notices that he is crying as they hug. Mitch promises to stay in touch with Morrie but fails to do so after
college.

Morrie has since been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gherig’s disease.

Sensing that death is near, Morrie begins jotting down his ideas and thoughts onto scraps of paper. He
also writes his philosophies on life and death. One of Morrie’s friends becomes fascinated with his
writings and sends them to a Boston Globe reporter who writes a feature story about Morrie. The story
gets the attention of one of the producers of the show Nightline who then does a feature story about
Morrie. Mitch happens to see the Nightline show and recognizes his old professor. He calls him to
arrange a visit.

During their discussions (every Tuesday for the next few months) they cover many topics, including
learning to accept death, loving others and being a better human being. Mitch is so intrigued by Morrie’s
philosophies that he starts taking notes and even brings a tape recorder to the second visit. He takes
time out of his schedule and faithfully visits Morrie every week. The conversations are powerful and very
emotional.

With each meeting, Mitch is learning valuable life lessons but sees Morrie becoming increasingly sick.

Book review/Reaction:

Tuesdays with Morrie is a really nice heartfelt book. If you read the book you will
start to look at life a different way. You will become more open and start to realize that life is
too short. The book will also make you feel the need to keep the promises you make to others.
It made me look back on life and realize that the promises I’ve made to people in the past I
could’ve kept my word on it. Now that I’ve read the book I’ve vowed to try my best to keep the
promises I make because I don’t want to have that feeling that Mitch had when he learned his
professor was really ill.
It motivates me to want to do more with others before leaving this earth. Knowing
that I’m able to do things like that now makes me feel good inside because I don’t want to miss
out on a good thing. I also know it would make the other people feel a sense of belonging and it
will warm their heart. “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. ” This
quote to me means that if you’re going through something and you never let out how you feel
then it’s going to always be a part of you.

You have to go through the process of letting out how you feel and deal with the
coping process. If you don’t let it out then whatever the situation is you will always have fear
about it and never grieve properly or get through it. This quote can also go for someone who
has lost a loved one. If you continue to bottle up your feelings you will never learn how to
detach your emotions and always be afraid that someone is going to leave you and always be
scarred by the pain and heartache that come along with it. As you complete the steps in the
process of detaching your emotions you learn not to be afraid of holding back anymore.

Losing a loved one is very emotional which cause some to hold back and do not
allow themselves to go through the process of expressing their emotions. Later in life they’re
afraid of speaking, showing and detaching that part of them. Also I feel this quote means that if
you continue to let frustration build up and not discuss the issue at hand then you will forever
and always take your anger and frustration out on other people. Allowing yourself to feel the
emotions that you’re going through and to let it out is always better than holding it in.

A lot of people are afraid to express or experience emotions which take away from
the human society. I feel as if more people should allow themselves to express the emotions
and feelings that they encounter because afterwards they will feel a big relief and things will
more than likely look up for them. Talking with someone is always better than hiding how you
feel and what you feel. “In the beginning of life, when we were infants, we need others to
survive, right? And at the end of life, when you get like me, you need others to survive, right?

But here’s the secret: “in between, we need others as well.” This quote states that we
need people throughout our entire life. As infants in the beginning of life especially we had no
choice but to depend on our caregivers and need them for our protection, love and support. It
would be impossible to go on and do for ourselves as infants, adolescents, and young children.
Even when we are teenagers we definitely need assistance and guidance to survive. If we didn’t
have the love and support of others that we need to survive it would be hard for a lot of us to
make it in this world.

Infants and adolescents need guidance to mature and become a better teenager or
young adult. When elderly people become ill or terminally ill they also need caregivers and
family members to survive otherwise they wouldn’t be able to function properly. Elderly people
need assistance because some become prey to other for financial gain and other for security
reason. Their thinking skills are not as sharp as when they were younger and their health as
well. Infants and elderly need others to survive in similar ways.

Infants and elderly people are fragile and dependent, and lovable all in different
ways. They both need someone there for them at all times. Love on each person as if it were
they’re last because caring for them and helping them survive on love is the secret to surviving.
Toward the end when I get like the elderly I need others to survive and in between I still need
others to survive. Once you are created into this world you will always need others to survive
and at the end of life others will continue to needs others. We cannot make it in life without
depending on others to survive. We… need to forgive ourselves… For all the things we didn’t
do. All the things we should have done. You can’t get stuck on the regrets of what should have
happened. ” This is a really potent quote to me. This quote speaks volume to me, it means that
we should not regret doing things we didn’t do in life. A person should not put pressure on
themselves for not completing things in life they want to accomplish or places they want to go.
Some people feel that regrets means being a failure but life offers different turns in which life
can change at any moment.

Your life is too precious to be filled with regrets. If is too short to feel bad for yourself
and not be happy for the things you’ve accomplished. What you’ve accomplished someone else
hasn’t and they’re trying to so be thankful for what you have done. No one should consider
themselves a failure because they believe they didn’t complete the things they should have
done. One can plan things and life will take you in another direction. We can forgive ourselves
or later in life we can always do the things we wanted to do and should have done with no
regrets.

If people will have regrets for not accomplishing things in life then some things
shouldn’t be planned. We should never feel guilty about the things in life we’ve done or hadn’t.
God had us to go through the trials and tribulations to make us a better individual. He has us
not going through certain things for a reason also, maybe it wasn’t meant for us to do that
wasn’t his plan for us. So we should never hold any regrets in our life because God has us doing
things and not doing things due to his timing and planning.

Here are the most valuable lessons that we learned from the book “Tuesdays
with Morrie”:

Forgive Not Only Others But Also Yourself

“We need to forgive ourselves. For all the things we didn’t do. All the things we should
have done. You can’t get stuck on the regrets of what should have happened.”

Most of us find it hard to forgive others, but what we don’t know is that it’s
even harder to forgive ourselves. We tend to hold grudges in life, and somehow,
it is the reason why we can’t entirely be happy.

In the book “Tuesdays with Morrie”, Morrie taught the author the practice of
forgiveness. Not only to others but as well as to himself. We may regret the
things we did in the past, but not everything is within our control. Not letting
go about it won’t change anything, but a better outlook for the future might.

Live Your Life As If It Is Your Last Day

“Every day, have a little bird on your shoulder that asks, ‘Is today the day? Am I ready?
Am I doing all I need to do? Am I the person I want to be?’”

Most of the time, we take our chances for granted – the opportunity to spend
time with our family, to help other people, and the chance to do what we love.

It’s because most of us think that we always have more time to do the right
thing. But the truth is we never know when would be the last time for us to say
goodbye.

Morrie said, “Everyone knows they’re going to die, but nobody believes it.”
Although some of us don’t like to think about it, we all know that our hearts
will stop beating, eventually. So we should give our best and not wait for a
special time to express our love to everyone. The right time is always now.