When I was a sophomore in high school, I read a book by Mitch Albom that single-handedly changed my entire perspective on life. The book was titled: Tuesdays with Morrie.
For those of you who don’t know, Morrie Schwartz was a sociology professor from Brandeis University that was diagnosed with ASL during the summer of 1994, and had a huge influence on Mitch Albom, who was one of his previous students. Their touching last moments together were compiled into a book of “last lessons” that talked about the meaning of life.
I have compiled a list of quotes from the book that stood out to me the most, and have helped shape my view of life. I find that it’s beneficial from time to time to go back and remind myself of these important lessons, and I highly recommend that everyone reads it at least once.
“If you hold back on the emotions — if you don't allow yourself to go all the way through them — you can never get to being detached, you're too busy being afraid. You're afraid of the pain, you're afraid of the grief. You're afraid of the vulnerability that loving entails. But by throwing yourself into these emotions, by allowing yourself to dive in, all the way, over your head even, you experience them fully and completely.”
One of my favorite things about Morrie was that he wasn’t afraid to be open and vulnerable. He knew that he was dying, he was losing his ability to do everything for himself and he wasn’t fighting it. He was patient with his feelings and felt everything fully.
It is important to remind yourself that it is okay to be vulnerable, and although it may be scary because there is always a chance of getting your heart broken when you open yourself up to love, when you throw yourself into it, you allow yourself to experience it fully and completely. And I don’t think that could ever be regretted.
“'Everyone knows they're going to die,' he said again, 'but nobody believes it. If we did, we would do things differently.”
The reality is, life is short. We all know this, but do we really believe it? We are in denial about a life we are too familiar with. Morrie had the ability to point this out, and emphasize that it is too short to do things that make you feel empty.
“So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they're busy doing things they think are important. This is because they're chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.”
Like most of us, Mitch was caught up in the money scheme of life. Better off than most were, but lacking the vulnerability, the community, the family, and the love that truly makes life great. We carelessly waste so much of our time putting things in front of these connections because we think that it will make us better off, when really only brings emptiness to our lives. What is a big house when you have no one to share it with?
“Life is a series of pulls back and forth. You want to do one thing, but you are bound to do something else. Something hurts you, yet you know it shouldn't. You take certain things for granted, even when you know you should never take anything for granted.”
Embracing change is the easiest way to navigate life because the minute you think you have everything figured out, boom! Morrie’s life is a prime example of how one minute you can be dancing, and the next minute you can be counting down the seconds it takes until you’re out of breath. It is not worth it to take people for granted, it is not worth it to be hurt over things that aren’t worth it.
“The truth is, part of me is every age. I’m a three-year-old, I’m a five-year-old, I’m a thirty-seven-year-old, I’m a fifty-year-old. I’ve been through all of them, and I know what it’s like. I delight in being a child when it’s appropriate to be a child. I delight in being a wise old man when it’s appropriate to be a wise old man. Think of all I can be! I am every age, up to my own.”
We often don’t think of ourselves being built up to every age we’ve ever lived. Yet some days we find ourselves lying in bed and we remember how we felt when we were eight years old, or fifteen years old. We are not only 20 years old. I think that it’s important to recognize that with every age is new experiences, and we are a compilation of everything we’ve ever experienced, every person we’ve ever encountered, and every thought and emotion we’ve ever felt.
I think that it’s important to embrace the advice that Morrie has to offer because you never quite recognize that true value of life until you’re faced with the fact that you’re dying.
