Tuesdays with Morrie

As we travel along our walk of life, we encounter many people who bless us with their insights. Mitch Albom looks back over his life when he learns that his favorite professor from his college days is terminally ill. Though he had always admired Morrie, once he graduated and started his life he never looked back; the one man he credited his most valuable life experiences to, became a mere afterthought. In fact, Mitch wouldn't have even known of Morrie's illness had he not seen Ted Koppel interviewing the now wheelchair bound professor. Little did Mitch know Morrie had one more life lesson to teach him; the most valuable life lesson yet.


When in good health Morrie loved to dance to whatever music was playing in the background. The day he couldn't dance anymore, is the day he realized something was terribly wrong. After a succession of doctor's visits, it was found he had Lou Gehrig's disease and he and his wife were told it was terminal. Most people would have retired from teaching; most people would have just waited to die. Morrie on the other hand decided he would use this time of dying to teach one more valuable lesson to his students and the friends and colleagues he had made over the years.


In his final year of life he would host a "living funeral", where the people who had touched his life the most would share the blessing they had been given just in the knowing of Morrie. His friends would gather around him in his home, while he taught them a lesson in dying without shame. He would teach his students the glory of both living well and passing with dignity. Mitch would find himself flying to visit Morrie every Tuesday, eager to learn the most valuable life lesson of all.


I could continue this lens as though it was a book report filling many pages. However, I will summarize by sharing several of the most important life lessons I have ever learned; the life lessons which gave me the strength to become the person I was always intended to be.



Live everyday to its fullest, with forgiveness and love in our hearts for all of those who cross our paths during our walk of life.

Realize you are more than the sum of how successful you become or the mistakes which cloud your existence.

Cherish those people who cross your path, the lessons learned - whether good or bad - and the blessings bestowed upon you.

No man is an island - surround yourself with people whom you love and admire and who love and admire you in return.

Live your life and accept your final days with equal amounts of dignity.

Dance, dance, dance -
and do so as though no one is watching.




Here are a few quotes I wouldn't want you to miss. I hope they will hit home with you as well, enveloping your soul with their wisdom.

"It's not just other people we need to forgive, Mitch," he finally whispered. We also need to forgive ourselves." Ourselves? "Yes. For all the things we didn't do. All the things we should have done. You can't get stuck on the regrets of what should have happened. That doesn't help you when you get to where I am. I always wished I had done more with my work; I wished I had written more books. I used to beat myself up over it. Now I see that never did any good. Make peace. You need to make peace with yourself and everyone around you."

"As long as we can love each other, and remember the feeling of love we had, we can die without ever really going away. All the love you created is still there. You live on - in the hearts of everyone you have touched and nurtured while you were here. Death ends a life, not a relationship."

"Forgive yourself before you die. Then forgive others."

"Mitch," he said, retuning to the subject of forgiveness. "There is no point keeping vengeance or stubbornness. These things" - he sighed - "these things I so regret in my life. Pride. Vanity. Why do we do the things we do?"

"Don't let go too soon, but don't hang on too long."

"Invest in the human family. Invest in people. Build a little community of those you love and who love you."

"Love each other or perish."

"Do the kinds of things that come from the heart. When you do, you won't be dissatisfied, you won't be envious, you won't be longing for somebody else's things. On the contrary, you'll be overwhelmed with what comes back."

"Mitch, if you're trying to show off for people at the top, forget it. They will look down on you anyhow. And if you're trying to show off for the people at the bottom, forget it. They will only envy you. Status will get you nowhere. Only an open heart will allow you to float equally between everyone."

"You have to find what's good and true and beautiful in your life as it is now. Looking back makes you competitive. And age is not a competitive issue."

"I know you think this is just about dying," he said, "but it's like I keep telling you. When you learn how to die, you learn how to live."



I hope this mini review of Tuesdays with Morrie will encourage you to pick up this book of life's final lesson in living and dying, explore its pages and learn a little more about yourself in the process. I know it was a page turner for me, not to mention an eye opener on the way I want to live - with love, forgiveness, dignity and strength until the very moment of my passing.

In His Word-With His Love,
Kesia aka Nasty Angel