FREE ESSAY ON MY TUESAYS WITH MORRIE

MY TUESAYS WITH MORRIE

Kelly Kleinhesselink
Professor Kramer
Basic Writing
20 November 2000
My Tuesdays with Morrie
Mitch Albom, author of Tuesdays with Morrie, is flipping through his TV stations one
night and he heard these words come from his TV set, "Who is Morrie Schwartz?" And Mitch
went numb. Mitch found out through the TV show "Nightline" that his life long friend and
teacher is dying and Mitch knows that he has to go and see him. Mitch goes to see his old
college professor and what starts out as a one-day meeting turns into a four-month
"class".
The class is conducted in Morrie's house in the suburb or Boston, there are no books or
any other students, just Mitch and Morrie. Throughout this class Morrie teaches Mitch the
lessons of life; lessons such as death, fear, aging, greed, marriage, family, society,
forgiveness, and a meaningful life. As Morrie's conditions worsen, Mitch's condition is
getting better; Mitch is becoming a better person. Finally Morrie's life comes to an end,
and Mitch graduates from "Life 101".
"I felt the seeds of death inside his shriveling frame, and as I laid him in his chair,
adjusting his head on the pillow, I had the coldest realization that our time was running
out (59)." That is what Mitch, a journal writer for the Detroit Free Press, said as he
lifted his old college teacher from his wheelchair to his recliner. Morrie Schwartz is
dying from ALS, otherwise known as Lou Gehrig disease. As the book goes on, Morrie
reaches out to people who want to talk and he teaches them about the real lessons of
life, while he is lying on his deathbed. Tuesdays With Morrie is an excellent book
because Morrie teaches Mitch lessons about marriage, greed, and family that young adults
can learn from.
"Love each other or perish"(149). This quote sums up all of Morrie's views and beliefs on
the topic of marriage and love. I feel that young adults can learn a very big lesson from
this short quote. Love and marriage are very important because we all need someone to
love and to love back, if we don't we are going to live a very lonely and unhappy life.
There is a set of rules that Morrie stated in this book that I feel young adults could
learn a lot from. Morrie said that, "your going to have a lot of trouble if you don't
respect the other person… if you don't now how to compromise… if you can't
talk openly about what goes on between you… if you don't have a common set of
values in life"(149). And the biggest one of those values is your belief in the
importance of your marriage. I think that everything that Morrie says in that passage is
very true. When he talks about if you don't know how to compromise then you are going to
have a lot of trouble. If you can't work and give up some things to make things succeed
with the person that you love then you are going to have a lot of problems. I really feel
that young adults can learn a lot from that passage as well as throughout the book about
marriage.
Another issue that Morrie talks to Mitch about that I feel young adults can learn from is
greed, and how we as people put our values in the wrong things. I also feel that this is
true in today's society. We do put our values in the wrong things, we put our values in
money, cars, cloths, and many others, but we all know that that is the wrong place to put
our heart. I'm sure that we have all heard the quote, "When we die, you can't take it
with you (124)". Since this has been mentioned so much I don't need to go in depth about
it, but I really feel that this is true, we need to realize that we can't take our
material things with us when we die. What I learned from this chapter is that a person
doesn't go through their whole life putting their values in the wrong things and then
when you get older realize that they where wrong and should have put their values in
something else. It is easier to learn now then later.
The final lesson that I feel young adults can learn from is how important family should
be to someone. Morrie says," The fact is, there is no foundation, no secure ground, upon
which people may stand today if it isn't the family"(91). You really do need a family
that loves you very much and is always watching you. That is what Morrie feels a family
is all about, knowing that you have someone always watching out for you and always taking
care of you. I really feel that young adults can learn a lot about themselves from this
chapter also. It really teaches you about how important others are to you, and how you
have to surround yourself with people that love you, causes if you don't you are going to
perish. "Love each other or perish"(149).
This book really is an excellent book and although I only wrote about how it can benefit
young adults I really feel that it is a book for all age groups. Everyone can learn from
this book and I would highly recommend this book for everyone to read. I could have
written much more about the lessons that I learned from this book, I even had to cut a
lot of information out, but these are the lesson that I feel young adults could learn
from the most. And I hope that I can use what I learned to make me a better person also.
I really enjoyed reading this book and I can honestly say that it has helped shape my
life.