Tuesdays With Morrie Essays (1895 words) - Self-help Books

Tuesdays With Morrie Lifes Greatest Lesson Morrie Schwartz was an intelligent, interesting senior citizen that touched a lot of people, especially Mitch Albom. Morrie passed on a lot of his knowledge in the last few months of his life, due to amyotrophic lareral sclerosis (ALS). This paper will touch on Morries philosophy of life, what he says is important and valuable, and also the struggles and problems of life. I will also compare Morries message with other philosophies and also give my opinion about Morries theory of human nature and philosophy of life. Morries philosophy of life is full of many ideas and to better understand it its easier to break it down into parts. One of the philosophies was to cherish family and to be more open about your emotions so that you will not regret it when you or a loved one dies. Another one of Morries philosophies is to be open to forgiveness the following quote shows how Morrie regrets not forgiving one of his closest friends. Over the years, I met Norman a few times and he always tried to reconcile, but I didnt accept it. I wasnt satisfied with his explanation. I was prideful. Mitch...a few years ago...he died of cancer. I never got to forgive him (Albom p. 166). That quote showed how Morrie deeply regrets not forgiving his friend, for something he should have, and how not forgiving him will bother him for the rest of his life. Another part of Morries philosophy has to do with culture. The following quote shows how strongly he felt about the way American people should live. You start making money a god. It is all part of this culture.....The little things I can obey. But the big things- how we think, what we value- those you must choose yourself. You cant let anyone or any society determine those for you (Albom p.154-155). This quote shows that Morrie does not agree with the way many American people live their life. Many let the culture tell them how to live their life but his philosophy is that you must be your own person and dont let anyone else tell you how to live. Morrie put a lot of emphasis on what is important and valuable in his philosophy of life. One value that he felt very strongly about was that people look at material things to judge others instead of looking on the inside and getting to know them. One quote that supports this statement says how we should not depend on material things to find happiness and love. They were embracing material things and expecting a sort of hug back. But it never works. You cant substitute material things for love or for gentleness or for tenderness or for a sense of comradeship (Albom p. 125). This quote shows one of Morries strongest values, it tells how he felt about money and material items. Morrie felt that people look to much at what others have and base their friends on money. You cannot turn to cars, money, or mansions to get love and be liked by others. If someone is your true friend they will love you for who you are and not what you have. Morrie also had ideas on the challenges faced by humans and our human nature. He highlighted some of the struggles and problems faced by most humans. The following quote shows how Morrie felt about people basing their lives on money instead of simple pleasures. Morrie had always been taken with simple pleasures, singing, laughing, dancing. Now, more than ever, material things held little or no significance...Weve got a form of brainwashing going on in our country.....More money is good, more property is good, more commercialism is good...The average person is so fogged up by all this, he has no perspective on whats really important anymore (Albom p. 124-125). This quote shows how Morrie feels about the country and the way people live. He sees more pleasure in simple things such as singing and dancing, but the American people look at pleasure as having more money than someone else or more property. Morrie sees this as being a big problem in the country today. He feels that people should be themselves and have fun without looking at how much they own. To better understand Morries philosophy I will compare and contrast it with some other philosophies. First, compare the philosophy of Karl Marx to Morries. One point that Marx and Morrie would agree