Selflessness In Mitch Albom's Tuesdays With Morrie

Tuesdays With Morrie, by Mitch Albom is a true story, that teaches the readers valuable life lessons from the dying Morrie Schwartz. Morrie teaches Mitch several lessons, but there is one lesson that is indirectly taught in the story, selflessness. Although selflessness was not one of the main topics covered by Morrie, the reader can clearly learn about the importance of selflessness through Morries full time caregiver, Connie. Connie, in Tuesdays with Morrie, can be seen as an angel of mercy. Her immense selflessness and compassionate personality allowed her to help remove so many of the physical burdens that Morrie faced with ALS. Connie resembled a mother figure to the dying Morrie, as he became fully dependent on her for most of his physical

Her caring and compassionate nature is what drove her to be so helpful to Morrie. “Connie answered the bell. Normally buoyant, she had a drawn look on her face. Her hello was softly spoken. ‘How’s he doing?’ I said. ‘Not so good.’ She bit her lower lip. ‘I don’t like to think about it. He’s such a sweetman, you know?’ I knew. ‘This is such a shame.’ ” (Albom) Connie’s care for Morrie is shown in this quote from the story. Connie’s compassionate personality is proven when she states “ I don’t think to think about it.” Connie cares for Morrie so much that she does not even want to think about the fact that Morrie is struggling. Compassion is clearly shown here, her sympathy justifies her compassion. Connies compassion can be explained by the quote “A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle.”(James Keller) This quote explains the idea that helping another can never hurt you, and through the evidence of Connie’s compassion, it is shown that she lives her life exactly like this. Connie’s personality consists of an enormous amount of caring and

Babies fully depend on someone else to care for them, unable to do anything for themselves. As we grow up and become adults, we become independent, we no longer depend on others to do things for us. Once we start to die though, we lose our independence. We become fully depended on others in order to survive, due to the many disabilities that come near death, with illness, like in Morries case. A perfect example of this can be Morrie. He explains it himself, “It’s like going back to being a child again. Someone to bathe you. Someone to lift you. Someone to wipe you. We all know how to be a child. It’s inside all of us. For me, it’s just remembering how to enjoy it.”(Albom) Morrie explains that as he got older, he became more like a baby again. Babies require a mother, or someone who resembles the care of a mother, which is why in his fight with ALS, he gained a mother figure to care of him, Connie. She clearly resemble the care and selflessness of a mother to morrie in his final