Tuesdays With Morrie

Before reading this book if any would have asked me “ How would you like to die” – my answer would be anything that wasn't slow and painful. A quick unconscious or an immediate death would have been a welcome for me. The thought of a prolonged physical deterioration or the rotting of your cells can be such a mental torture to the person who is dying and  his loved ones.  My view changed after reading this book.

Morrie Schwartz, the protagonist of this book was a college professor. He was hit by this terminal neuromuscular disease called ALS or it is better known as Lou Gedrig’s disease .ALS, as the book descirbes, is like a lit candle. Your nerves starts melting and it generally works it way up from your legs

The book revolves around a single class taken my Morrie on Tuesdays and there was only one student – the author Mitch Albom.  The curriculum revolved around one subject – the meaning of life. There were no grades. But you were expected to perform physical activities like lifting Morrie’s head or placing his glasses on the bridge of his. No books were used in the class and a funeral was to be held in lieu of a graduation.  There were no final exam but you were expected to bring out one final paper, a thesis of sorts. This book is that thesis.  “An old man, a young man, and life’s greatest lessons.

There is this wonderful quote in this book the says “ When you learn to die, that is when you learn to live” . We are all going to die some day or the other and in such a grand scheme of things, some of the activities that we do and most importantly some of the activities that we don’t do is what the book teaches me.

Morrie had asked the author to list down things that he wanted to talk about and those topics were converted into talks that happened on Tuesdays at Morrie’s place.  A wide of emotions and events were covered and the beauty of the book is that it gives a different perspective every time you read it.

William Shakespeare said: 

“Cowards are the ones who die many times

Valiant  are the ones who never taste death

Of all the wonders I yet have heard

It seems strange that men fear death

Seeing that death is a necessary end

Will come when it will come”

 Morrie Schwartz was a valiant one and the his last class’s  graduation was held on a Tuesday.