Tuesdays with Morrie....

Tuesdays with Morrie : an old man, a young man, and life's greatest lesson

by Mitch Albom

To tell the truth, I'm a cynic. Sad movies don't usually move me; beautiful words make me smile and at most, give me a sense of dull ache in my heart. None had been able to make me cry.

I bought 'Tuesdays with Morrie' because a friend recommended it. Read a couple of pages at the bookstore, and it was interesting enough, so I made my purchase.

I expected a good read; but I didn't expect it to affect me so much. To my surprise, I actually cried.

Twenty years after graduating from college, Mitch Albom (the author) discovered that his favourite professor, Morris Schwartz, was diagnosed with ALS (amoytrophic lateral sclerosis). They were reunited, meeting on Tuesdays and during the last months of his life Morris taught Mitch the most valuable lessons regarding life...and facing death.

Most of his words rang true. In my life, that is. Thinking about death makes you wonder about so many things: 'Am I ready to die?', 'Have I been a good person?', 'Will anyone think of me after I'm gone?'

My favourite lesson : The Sixth Tuesday : We Talk about Emotions

(excerpt from the book)

"..by throwing yourself into these emotions, by allowing yourself to dive in, all the way, over your head even, you experience them fully and completely. You know what pain is. You know what love is. You know what grief is. And only then you can say, 'All right. I have experienced that emotion. I recognize that emotion. Now I need to detach myself from that emotion for a moment.

...I thought about how often this (detachment) was needed in everyday life. How we feel lonely, sometimes to the point of tears, but we don't let those tears come becuse we are not supposed to cry. Or how we feel a surge of love for a partner but we don't say anything because we're frozen with the fear of what those words might do to the relationship.

Morrie's approach was exactly the opposite. Turn on the faucet. Wash yourself with the emotion. It won't hurt you. It will only help..."

I wonder if what he wrote is true. That fear of saying too much to a loved one is something I know very well. After reading the book, there is another fear that keeps playing on my mind : The fear of not being able to let the other person know your true feelings, should there come a time when it would be too late to do so.