To Die Before Death
(A Book Review of Tuesday's with Morrie by Mitch Albom)
Do you know you’re going to die? Well, I expect you to answer me “Yes!” but on the other side of my question, have you ever ask yourself if you’re ready to die?
“Tuesdays with Morrie”, my first impression about the book met up my expectations. The title seems to have a great impact to me as a student. The first thing that came up to my mind is where the author will focus into. What is the topic that the characters will talk about every meeting? What are the values that the author wants for us to get? The book is a real story of Mitch Albom and his blooming relationship with his mentor and retired professor, Morrie Schwartz in the months before Morrie’s death. Morrie’s fantastic ideas and struggle for survival has inspired me through Albom’s account of Morrie’s last thoughts and philosophies. Morrie was not only a professor, but also a writer and an inspirational speaker until he was too weak to do so any longer. Morrie’s story teaches me some of the great lessons one can learn in their life.
This did not seem, to me, to be the most interesting topic to read about. I reluctantly began the book and soon became quite involved with the novels insightful progression. I initially thought I would construct a typical review of the novel and hand it in for a good grade. This is the genre of a book I want to be close with but although I am trying, it can’t pass up and catch my heart. As the pages turn by, my interest changed without knowing it. I just notice myself that I have been telling the story and lectures of the book to my little sister. I realize then how deep I understand the perception of the author. There are reading materials that give us a lot of entertainment. Romances, fictional, etc. are those I am talking about. I am a fond of reading books; actually they’re my best friends. The struggles with facing death issues make this book a very practical lesson in the denial of death. Even though we know that all of us will die, we’re still afraid of coming up this point of our time. This is encouraging us to consider the value of death and the value of facing the reality. Words and phrases have proven that Mitch Albom shows abstractions and intellectualism about the things he had learned from his dying mentor. The meaning of life, this is the subject. I want to open up my mind for what is the difference between facts and opinions which is very well said in this book. The quality of being unique appears when the author implies the essence of accepting what is unacceptable in reality. We know the meaning of a particular thing but how broad do we understand the use of knowing that meaning. We tend to skip the part that implies the truth. So in the result, it’s hard for us to accept the facts in this world because we’re always used to be on the thing where we’re always with. Morrie Schwartz’s “Life’s greatest lesson” touched the deepest part of my soul.
I can relate to the story in the sense of putting myself as the student. Actually, I have a teacher when I was in high school who stands as my friend, coach, mentor, and father. He’s on the age of 40s but the lessons he gained which he shared to me is something like came from a very well-experienced person. He is very similar to Morrie. He is a good speaker which is his best asset. He always opens up my mind into something I can’t accept. Almost all of us in the class whenever we have a problem, he is the person we run into. In my case, my parents are separated, I am in the side of my father but he is currently in abroad. It is very hard for me to live with it, but my teacher shows me the reasons so I can accept and learn to live my life even if I am not with the guidance of my Dad. Like Morrie and Mitch’s farewell on the graduation ceremony, my teacher and I also promised to keep in touch though I have never seen him again since we go for our separate ways. After reading this book, I know now how important it is to have a great listener to whom you can rely on. Teacher is not a person who only taught you things about school matters. If you just look on the other side of every lecture they conduct, they have their hidden message. Morrie and my high school teacher have contributed greatly to the satisfaction of our minds and hearts. Even the most complicated thing that we don’t understand they always tend to make a solution for it. That’s why my deepest gratitude is always belongs to him.
There are some quotations that leave a great mark in my head. The first one is “Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live.” Morrie says this during the fourth Tuesday when he and Mitch discuss death. People refuse to believe that they will one day die, and therefore, do not live their life as fully as they would have liked and also has many regrets as they become older and their death becomes closer. Once we learn to accept taht we are one day goin to die, we learn to live our lives fully and without any regrets. Morrie repeats this quotes frequently throughout the chapter to emphasize how important and helpful it is to accept death, and what a benefit it would be to living the remainder of our lives. Morrie also wants Mitch to see how he is able to appreciate the smaller, more genuine things in life, knowing that his death is approaching. Second, “Forgive yourself before you die. Then forgive others.” On the twelfth Tuesday, Morrie and Mitch discuss forgiveness. Morrie sees no point in holding any kind of vengeance or stubbornness; he then admits that he has had some pride in his life and regrets it. He recalled a story about his old friend Norman with whom he used to spend so much time. After Norman and his wife moved to Chicago, Morrie’s wife, Charlotte, had to undergo a serious operation. Norman never contacted Morrie or Charlotte even though they knew about the operation. This hurt Morrie and Charlotte so much that they decided to drop their relationship with Norman. Norman tried to apologize and reconcile but Morrie never accepted his apology. After Norman died, Morrie regretted how he never forgives ourselves for the things we should have done. We should explain that we can’t get stuck on regrets of what should have happened. Make peace with yourself and those around you. Lastly, “Death ends a life, not a relationship”. As long as we can love each other and remember this feeling of love, we can die without ever going away because all of the love we have created will still remain. After we die, we live on in the hearts of everyone we have touched and nurtured while we were on earth. This also emphasizes and expands on Morrie’s concept of always giving love and compassion; if we are able to form these loving relationships while we are on earth, not only will we live more fulfilled and substantial lives, but when we die our love and relationship will remain in the hearts of those who we love. At the end of the novel, during Morrie’s funeral, Mitch has an internal conversation with Morrie. He feels very comfortable and serine in the conversation; this is because he and Morrie had expressed their love and compassion for one another during Morrie’s life, and now their relationship is in each other’s hearts, the thing that had given me reason why I should let my tears roll down while reading this novel.
As Morrie said this last quotation that I’ve mentioned, I decided to change my mind to what i currently know. Although my belief in the afterlife is not absolutely defined, I hold some belief in the possibility of reincarnation. Each day of our life should become very meaningful after we have accepted the fact that we are not here forever. Furthermore, we have to live life to its fullest, as if it were our last. Death gives us our absolute reason for living. It provides us with the structure of how we appreciate and ho we guide our lives. It should help us prioritize our activities and the goals that we intend to accomplish before our eternal voyage. “One should play with death and find out what it is. The whole way of our remaining days is that play with death, which becomes the means to understand the mystery hidden behind life”.
