Kurze Inhaltsangabe
Mitch Albom erfährt, dass sein alter Collegeprofessor Morrie Schwartz an ALS erkrankt ist. Die Krankheit ist sein sicheres Todesurteil. Obwohl Mitch den Professor zu seiner Collegezeit verehrte und seine Nähe suchte, hat er ihn 16 Jahre lang nicht mehr gesehen. Der Beruf, die Karriere, das Rennen im Hamsterrad, all das war wichtiger als eine alte Freundschaft aufrecht zu erhalten. Mit einer Menge schlechtem Gewissen macht Mitch sich auf den Weg, um Morrie am Krankenbett zu besuchen. Erstaunt muss er feststellen, dass Morrie ihm nichts übel nimmt. Im Gegenteil, er schien auf Mitch gewartet zu haben. Mit ihm will er seine letzte Arbeit realisieren. Eine Studie über das Sterben. Mitch ist der Biograf, Morrie der Sterbende. Jeden Dienstag besucht Mitch Morrie. Der kranke Mann erzählt seinem ehemaligen Schüler von der Welt, dem Selbstmitleid, der Reue, dem Tod, den Gefühlen, der Familie, dem Geld, der Ehe, der Kultur, der Vergebung, dem Älterwerden und der Unendlichkeit der Liebe. Im Angesicht des Todes ist Morrie in der Lage all diese Dinge klar und unverklärt zu sehen. Mitch muss mit jeder Sitzung feststellen, wie wenig er eigentlich vom Leben weiß. Er erkennt, dass Morrie in seiner zentralen Aussage recht hat: Nur wer weiß wie man stirbt, der weiß auch wie man lebt. ( )

1. Summary: Maybe it was a grandparent, or a teacher or a colleague. Someone older, patient and wise, who understood you when you were young and searching, and gave you sound advice to help you make your way through it. For Mitch Albom, that person was Morrie Schwartz, his college professor from nearly twenty years ago. Mitch Albom rediscovered Morrie in the last months of the older man's life. Knowing he was dying of ALS, Mitch visited Morrie in his study every Tuesday, just as they used to back in college. Their rekindled relationship turned into one final 'class': lessons in how to live.
2. Ted Koppel Nightline interview, as mentioned in the book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtYyT6Hl3ms
3. Author interview, 25 years of Tuesdays with Morrie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg95u9q5Z3Q
4. Learning objectives and themes: https://www.prestwickhouse.com/blog/post/2020/03/how-to-teach-tuesdays-with-morr...
5. Unit lesson plans and activities: https://donnellydailyapple.com/category/high-school/tuesdays-with-morrie-unit/
6. Lesson plans including discussion prompts: https://www.varsitytutors.com/englishteacher/albom
7. Activity pack: https://www.tpet.com/content/PHSamples/TuesdaysMorrieACTPKs.pdf ( )

Enlightenment

I read this book in 2017 and needed to pick up something I know I will enjoy. This just made me reflect that life is too short and that I need to focus on what matters. Tuesdays with Morrie is perhaps the best-known account of an individual’s experience with ALS. It is a deeply moving story about Albums’ re-uniting with his beloved teacher and mentor, Morrie Schwartz, during Schwartz’s final months of life as he succumbs to the ravaging effects of the disease. The student relates how his teacher chose to use his illness as an opportunity to study how to die, but in the process, Morrie extracts lesson after lesson about how to live. This work is a heartwarming and heartbreaking tribute to a deeply insightful human being. It is drenched with wisdom and insight about love, life and appreciation. But it is also a story about a man who accepted the notion that ALS is inescapably terminal, and chose to derive something good from a bad situation.
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What do you do when you pick up a book to read and you already know that the main character is going to die? It is always the case when you read memoirs and biographies.

Well, you crack open the book and read on to see what golden nuggets can be imparted to you.

In tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom, the subtitle itself states that you will get "life's greatest lesson". Here, Albom chose to use the singular form of ‘lesson’ instead of plural. One would think that there would be an epiphany of some sort for the answer to life itself. Yet I think this was a misnomer for the "last class" since the author himself wrote down a list of topics to talk about with Morrie: death, fear, aging, greed, marriage, family, society, forgiveness, and a meaningful life during their 14 Tuesday classes together.

Tuesdays with Morrie is a very easy read. I read it in 3 hours while writing down several of Morrie's aphorisms - quotes - or reiterating my own epiphany moments. Most of what Albom recorded is nothing new other than wise thoughts of a dying man married with Buddhist teachings or meditation (or other religious teachings that tell you to let go and love everything).

It goes without saying that the backstory to the making of this book was more compelling to me than that actual book. The fact that Albom took the time out of his life to make the trek from Chicago, IL, to Waltham, MA, every week was a commitment that few people can make. Albom made the initial visit after learning from a Ted Koppel Nightline interview that his favorite college professor, Morrie Schwartz, was dying of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease. At the time, it was noted by Albom in the book that there was a writers' strike. Albom, being a sports writer, was technically out of job and had time on his hands. Life works in such mysterious ways sometimes. Somehow, a lighted path connected the two estranged professor and student at just the right time, to find one another, when they both needed each other.

In the book, Albom used simple words to convey Morrie's messages with some minor grammar issues here and there. These selected words were probably how Morrie talked since their meetings were videotaped. Simple and direct. The book, however, focused quite a bit on Morrie's dilapidating conditions and mentioned too much of his coughing, etc., without really touching on the humanistic side of Morrie’s mental status as his condition worsened. We do not truly get to see how Morrie’s mindset changes as his condition worsens. I do wonder if the disconnect is because Albom wrote the book as a sports writer - noting the highlights of what and when happened.

The only time that I felt that there was a glimpse into Morrie’s mental well-being was when he talked to Ted Koppel about wanting to die with dignity and his fear of eventually depending on someone to wipe his bottom. I think this is a real fear for just about everyone who is no longer a toddler and of sound mind. Morrie’s aphorism that stuck with me was: “When you are in bed, you are dead.” This was his inevitable ending that would come true.

After finishing the book, I was not satisfied. I wanted to know Morrie and what he had to say about how he lived with the knowledge of his impending death. He was a very well-liked sociology professor, so I felt he must have a lot to share. A quick Google search brought up several books by Morrie himself: Letting Go: Morrie’s Reflections on Living While Dying and Morrie in His Own Words. I found a pdf copy of the latter on archive.org. The book is only 127 pages. Easy enough. Check back for my thoughts.

Recommendation: Overall, tuesday with Morrie is a very easy read if you have a few hours with nothing else to do or read. Morrie’s aphorisms are there to take away to self-reflect on. So taking the time to read this book is not any lost of time.

Epiphanies and Quotes (aka Morrie’s Aphorisms):
“[A]ccept who you are and revel in that. … 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.” [120]

“Only an open heart will allow you to float equally between everyone. … 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.” [128]

“The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in.” [52]

“Love is when you are as concerned about someone else’s situation as you are about your own.” [178] ( )