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The importance of forgiveness
The importance of forgiveness
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I learned from the book that a former student reconnected with his old college professoi Morrie who was diagnosed with ALS (a terminal disease). Through their reconnection, Mitch and Morrie begin to meet every Tuesdays to discuss the different problems they face and the meaning of life. Also, choosing not to live his final months in fear. Morrie meditated on life and spread his ideas in the form of short aphorisms. One aphorism that hit me is “To learn to forgive yourself and to forgive others”. I had a few people in my life that had hurt me so much that I hated them. But, I was so miserable that I was not happy. I prayed to God to help me forgive them, a little by little I learned to forgive myself and then forgive them. Second one, was “Accept the past as the past without denying it or disrecarding it”. In other words, don’t dwell on the past, you will not focused on the present and future, but if you deny or discard the past, you shall make the same mistakes made in a previous time. There have been instances in my life that I would change if I could, but in reality one must accept what has occurred and keep moving forward in life. Lopez2 Third aphorism, is “There is no such thing as too late in life. He knew that is never too late to Life is a struggle, a tug of war with merciful opposing sides. An untold amount of people tear apart at the seams because the tension is too much. The rest of people has different versions of the same problem. People try to juggle work and family but find themselves in a state of confusion where priorities become blur. Is getting a high salary is more important than having dinner with family? The answer to that varies among all of us. To Mitch, the paycheck and the luxury that he brings was clearly more important than his family. But, Morrie made him realize one thing; the baffle that comes with the tension of opposites always end with the victory of
The second quote is “It didn’t matter. He’d learned long ago: perfection isn’t what family is all about” (pg.146). I believe this quote can relate to a lot of people no matter how different there families struggles or situation they’re in because no family is perfect and if you need someone for guidance or advice they be there to pick you up right back on your feet. Another thing is when someone in your family make a mistake they’d be there right next to you though your
Most of Tuesdays with Morrie consists of replays of conversations between Mitch and his former teacher, Morrie. This may seem like a pretty boring topic, yet Mitch Albom felt the need to write this book. Mitch could have easily just gone to visit his old professor, chatted with him, and left it at that. Why do you think that Mitch Albom felt the need to share his story? What do you spend money on and how can you save for things? What does society teach us about money, wealth, and greed?
Mitch Albom and Morrie Schwartz, surely, demonstrate a mutualistic relationship in Tuesdays with Morrie because both characters benefit from affection, and their visits gives them a sense of purpose. One way Mitch and Morrie share a mutualistic relationship is with love and affection. Morrie is very affectionate and outgoing, so he surrounds himself with the people he loves instead of shutting everyone out when he discovered he had ALS. Mitch describes Morrie’s need for affection when he says, “I suddenly knew why he so enjoyed my leaning over… or wiping his eyes. Human Touch. At seventy-eight, he was giving as an adult and taking as a child” (Albom 116). Mitch sees that Morrie likes affection, and at first he feels uncomfortable at first, but by his last visit, he had changed, ”I leaned in and kissed him closely…he had finally made me cry” (Albom 185-186). Mitch also benefits greatly in this relationship. After his uncle passed away, Mitch decides t...
Morrie was a sociology professor. He was very close to his student, Mitch Albom, and during the end of his life, as Morrie battles ALS. Mitch meets with him every Tuesday to discuss a large number of life’s topics. On the first
Mitch spends every Tuesday with Morrie not knowing when it might be his dear sociology professor’s last. One line of Morrie’s: “People walk around with a meaningless life…This is because they are doing things wrong” (53) pretty much encapsulates the life lessons from Morrie, Mitch describes in his novel, Tuesdays With Morrie. Morrie Schwartz, a beloved sociology professor at Brandeis University, was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), which most people would take as a death sentence. Morrie viewed it differently; he saw it more as an opportunity. This is because he does not follow the so-called “rules” of society. These rules come from the sociological concept of symbolic interaction, the theory that states that an individual’s
The moment we learn to forgive and love is when we can begin to recover and move on.
Morrie is Mitch's favorite professor from Brandeis University, and the main focus of the book is Morrie, who now suffers from ALS, a weakening, incurable disease that destroys his body, but cruelly leaves him as intelligent as ever before. He had taught sociology at Brandeis, and continues to teach it to Mitch, enlightening him on "The Meaning of Life", and how to accept death and aging. After having a childhood with out much affection shown at all, he lives on physical contact, which is rather similar to a baby. He has a passion for dancing and music, and cries a lot, especially since the beginning of his disease. He doesn’t hide his emotions, but he shares them openly with anyone, and stays in the same frame of thinking as he did before this fatal disease struck. Mitch Albom sees him as a man of absolute wisdom.
Throughout the last fourteen weeks of Morrie’s life, Mitch met with him every Tuesday to learn and understand all of the wisdom and lessons of life that were within Morrie. The weekly routine consisted of lunch and lecture. These meetings included discussions on everything from the world when you enter it to the world when you say goodbye.
The key ingredient of a happy and successful life, as taught to Mitch by Morrie, is love. Morrie made the following statement in the movie. “We must love one another or perish.” It explains the belief that if one does not have love in their life, they are not truly living. In Mitch’s life, love for his girlfriend Janine took second place to his demanding career in journalism. However, when Janine leaves him because of this insensitivity, he realizes that Morrie’s words are true and strives to change. Janine accepts Mitch back upon seeing the transition he has gone though. Mitch’s commitments at work were a big problem in their relationship and he understood that in order to restore the relationship he must let go of these. Love was the first personal commitment Mitch lived up to, replacing work deadlines with a marriage date. Love becomes the driving force in Mitch’s life.
One of the quotes, “learn how to die and you learn to live”, is when Morrie realizes near the end of his life that his perspective of the world changed as his window in life grew smaller (Albom, 1997, p. 82). His view of life transformed into appreciating simple interactions with the people he loved and cherishing the moments of leaving behind a legacy when he accepted death. To me, this quote means to revel in the moment, treasure the present, live memorably, appreciate the people who mean the most to you, and to live life to the fullest. Another quote, “aging is not decay but growth”, is what Morrie was finally able to translate in the final chapters of his life (Albom, 1997, p. 118). Morrie felt a sense of fulfillment of his years in life and savors the time he has remaining as death looms closer. He feels that growing old is not tied in with a negative context of falling apart physically, but about the positive aspects of growing emotionally and spiritually. From my perspective, this quote signifies that the person you are at the end of life is an accumulation of all the years compressed together, continuing to flourish with the knowledge of life’s experiences. Only with personal experiences come wisdom and
accept the choices we make in life whether good or bad. The next possible interpretation
Living unhappily is something else,” (35). This hit me because I have lost many family members in the last four to five years. Yes, I was unset after lost my uncle, great grandpa, great grandma, and here very soon I will lose my uncle because he will be taken off life support. This is sad but this is not a reason for me to continue my life unhappy. Yes death is something that takes some people a long time to grieve about, but you shouldn't be unhappy for the rest of your life for it. People just need to move on and accept that death is a part of life. I mean would life really mean as much if there wasn't death. Something else that relates to this aphorism is when my step dad lost his brother. He was so devastated after losing his younger brother,after months of watching him grieve I had, had enough. I regret this, but I ended up getting really angry. I asked him, “What is the point of being here if all you do is sit and cry?” That is a good example for your children and he seemed to snap out of his depression. I believe if I had not talked to him that today he would continue to live life very unhappy. What's the good in
Morrie’s messages about life in this book were not solely directed fro Mitch; they are meant for anyone who is willing to take the time to listen. For me, there is not only one thing I learned from Morrie. I learned that I should not take life for granted because you never know when it will be over. Even though I have heard it many times I never really believed that what the media says is not necessarily true, until I read this book. Finally, I learned that love and compassion, not only for others, but also for oneself are essential in living a happy life. It does not matter if someone is rich, or if they are poor for that matter. The truth is that as long as you lived your life as best you could, you learned from your mistakes, and you are happy with yourself, then you lead a fulfilling life.
This project relates to the book because the aphorism I am using was something Morrie said while he was talking to Mitch. Morrie
A strong Christian lesson on the true nature of forgiveness can be found in Christ’s Sermon on the Mount: