Tuesdays With Morrie
An old man, a young man, and life's greatest lesson
by Mitch Albom In the spring of 1976, his freshman year, Mitch meets his teacher, mentor and confidant in his professor Morrie Shwartz. Although Mitch stays close to Morrie right up to graduation, he makes no effort to keep in touch afterwards. In 1995, Morrie was featured on TV, dying from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or Lou Gherig's Disease. Mitch sees the show, and then goes to visit his teacher. Morrie, though weak, is as warm and wise as always. Mitch's union goes on strike, leaving him hanging loose. To fill that time, Mitch begins to visit his old teacher every Tuesday, as they had met in college.
Wanting to learn the trick to Morrie's continued happiness, Mitch makes a list of topics he want to discuss: death, fear, aging, greed, marriage, family, society, forgiveness and a meaningful life. Mitch and Morrie discuss each topic as Morrie's health dissipates incrementally, dying shortly after their last lesson.
The reader's stake in the matter is mostly in the hope that Mitch will learn what Morrie has to teach, but whether Morrie's lessons will stick any better than they had in college is unclear.
Question: Mitch is surprised when Morrie says that his perfect day would be a routine one. What would your perfect day be like?
Pleasant, philosophic reading.
