Mitch Albom's Tuesdays With Morrie

Throughout our lives, individuals offer knowledge to prepare us for the world. School teachers or college professors typically assume these roles, though their offerings largely consist of lessons directed toward career preparation, rather than personal development. Morrie Schwartz is an exception to this. Born on December 20, 1916 in New York City, Morris S. Schwartz pursued a career in sociology, eventually obtaining a job as a professor at Brandeis University, where he met Mitch Albom, a future sports reporter who relished his company. In the summer of 1994 after experiencing incessant tripping, however, doctors diagnosed him with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, more commonly referred to as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease. After viewing

According to page 91 of Tuesdays with Morrie, Morrie Schwartz states, “As our great Auden said, ‘Love each other or perish (91).’” Morrie recites Auden’s statement throughout the book, which advises people to either love others or perish. This poet’s quote clearly shows that love is essential to life, as without it, one is certain to endure a lifetime comparable to death. Also, Morrie announced to Mitch on page 91, “The fact is, there is no foundation, no secure ground, upon which people may stand today if it isn’t the family (91).” Morrie asserts that family, and the love that it provides, create a form of support for people that cannot be provided by any other source, emphasizing the significance of love and its inability to be substituted. Finally, on page 52, Mitch Albom wrote, “He repeated it carefully, pausing for effect. ‘ ‘Love is the only rational act (52).’ ’” Once again, Morrie cites the work of a wise man to support his beliefs, this time a statement from Levine, which claims that love is the only truly logical act, for it is the sole action performed with complete thought and pure intentions. Through Morrie’s dialogue and recantations quotes, Mitch Albom successfully demonstrated love in his

According to page 52, Morrie whispers to Mitch, “The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in…Let it come in. We think we don’t deserve love, we think if we let it in we’ll become too soft (52).” Morrie rejects the notion that love weakens a soul, for he believes that learning to give and receive love are indispensable abilities. Also, Mitch penned on page 105, “Morrie’s approach was exactly the opposite. Turn on the faucet. Wash yourself with the emotion. It won’t hurt you. It will only help (105).” In contrast to the beliefs shared by the majority of the population, Morrie believes that experiencing an emotion, even a negative one, is beneficial, and should not be opposed. These experiences possess the ability to acclimate individuals to similar conditions, resulting in comparatively lower levels of pain, fear, or other emotions. Finally, within age 4, Mitch described, “He used to go to this church in Harvard Square every Wednesday night for something called ‘Dance Free.’ They had flashing lights and booming speakers and Morrie would wander in among the mostly student crowd, wearing a white T-shirt and black sweatpants (4).” Rather than abstaining from dancing in public in fear that he would be considered odd, as the culture would define him, Morrie freely danced in public, for he enjoyed it. As the