tuesdays with Morrie

Author :
Mitch Albom

Story :
The book tells of a succesful sports writer re-visiting his college professor after he saw an interview of his dying professor on a TV program. His professor - Morrie Schwartz suffered from an incurable disease ALS and only had a few months to live. Mitch revisited Morrie and spent Tuesdays with him discussing about issues and life. Among the things they discussed were:

Death
Fear
Aging
Money
Marriage
Family
Society
Forgiveness
A meaningful life
the Perfect Day
Love

The main topic revolves around 'love' and as Morrie puts it 'Love each other or perish'. The book touches on each of the above subject subtly without going into too much depth. I guess that's how the author wanted it to be, to leave it to the readers how they would interpret each of the chapters. There were however lots of interesting points littered all over the book:

".. if you're trying to show off for people at the top, forget it. They will look down at you anyhow. And if you're trying to show off for 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 can't substitute material things for love or for gentleness or for tenderness or for a sense of relationship." - Morrie on Money

"...the biggest defect we human beings have is our short-sightedness. We don't see what we could be. We should be looking at our potential, stretching ourselves into everything we can become...." - Morrie on Culture

"It's not just others we have to forgive, we also need to forgive ourselves."

"Make peace with yourself and everyone around you." - Morrie on Forgiveness

"..if you've found meaning in life, you don't want to go back. You want to go forward. You want to see more, do more." - Morrie on Aging

"People haven't found meaning in their lives, so they're running all the time looking for it. They think the next car, the next house, the next job. Then they find those things are empty too and they keep running."

There are lots more nice little messages in the book, and I shall not spoil your reading pleasure by listing them here. Go read the book and find out for yourself. :)

Reading the book will not change your life but it gives you a different perspective on how we can live our life. Like I mention, the book touches very subtly on each of the topic and leave a lot to your imagination and interpretation, but by and large I feel that the book still talks about 'love' and how you should spread it to your family and friends. Ever thought of how 'A perfect day' in your life should be? Well, perhaps after reading the book, you'll have your own idea of how your 'perfect day' should be :)

Happy reading :)