Overview Of The Film Tuesdays With Morrie

Death is an enigmatic phenomenon that mankind dances with. Experienced by everyone at some point or another, death weaves its way through our lives and presents to us the reality of its finality and the truth of the unknown. Consequently, death results in the natural need to mourn the loss of people passed on. For most aging adults, death becomes a more conspicuous matter to address than in earlier years. Some cope better than others with the inevitable nature of death, seeing it as the necessary conclusion to a long life, while others deny its approach and attempt to delay its occurrences as long as possible.

The book and resultant film Tuesdays with Morrie, is a didactic story of Mitch and his former university professor Morrie. Diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), commonly known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, Morrie finds himself with only a few weeks to live (Albom, 1997). Lou Gehrig's Disease is a

…progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to [the patients] death (Alsa.org, 2014).

Upon learning of his condition Morrie asked himself: “do I whither up and disappear, or make the best of my time left?” (Albom, 1997, pp 10). True to his calling as a teacher, he uses his dying days as an opportunity to present his final lesson – he “would walk that final bridge between life and death, and narrate the trip” (Albom, 1997, pp 10). As a dying adult, Morrie’s story presents an encouraging message of what death means and how to approach it, showing how death itself can enable growth and development...

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...by our anticipated demise.

Morrie maintained this point of view, and believed that death prompts the way we live: “Everyone knows they’re going to die but nobody believes it. If we did, we would do things differently”(23). A study by Cicirelli (2001), showed that death is a motivating force for realizing life goals, but was higher for a young adult cohort compared to an aging generation cohort. This is partly attributed to mature adults already having accomplished their lifetime objectives, and subsequently having set minor tasks for achievement before cessation. (Cicirelli, 2001). Therefore, despite death as a motivational force declining as life progresses, it is still a contributing factor to individual’s goal directed behaviour throughout livelihood. Morrie supported this, saying that comprehending what it means to die causes one to live a better life.