Tuesdays with Morrie

This book, Tuesdays with Morrie, talks about the author and an old professor’s stories. After the author, Mitch, graduated from college, he entered the job market. However, he suffered from the conflicts between ideal and reality. One day, he learned that his respectable professor Morrie got an incurable disease called ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis). Therefore, he decided to pay him a visit. By doing so, the fourteen lessons were unfolded to the reader. Mitch visited his teacher every Tuesday. Through their interactions, Morrie had us learn how to confront our lives with a positive and brave attitude. He never gave up his hope. He made good use of the rest of his life to teach his student what life, death, love, and aging are.

Most to my surprise, in the fourth Tuesday course, Morrie said: "Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live." To me, these words are very meaningful and worthy of our reflecting upon, since an enormous number of unpredictable incidents are happening in our lives. Take Formosa Fun Coast explosion as an example. It occurred in New Taipei City a few weeks ago, leaving many people burnt and many families separated. From the TV news, we learned that there are some people dying, most of whom are still being treated. Their previous wonderful lives, all of a sudden, became miserable. These victims need more courage and effort to start a new life. They need to struggle hard, suffering a lot mentally besides feeling great physical pain. However, I think after overcoming this great challenge, they would cherish their lives more and lead a more meaningful life. I hope they have a chance to read Tuesdays with Morrie. Then they will realize Morrie’s life philosophy better than we do. There is uncertainty for every single second and minute in the future and life is full of ups and downs. Consequently, we should stay optimistic about life and create our own happiness instead of waiting passively.

In addition, we are not supposed to avoid discussing the issue about death. Traditionally, conservative Chinese people regard this serious topic about death as an ominous issue. For instance, the word for the number four sounds like the word for death. Because of its association with death, the number four has long been considered an unlucky number. However, death is not terrible. The most horrible part is that you regret not living in the real moments when you are dying. Nowadays, there are many devious young men who idle away their precious time in Internet cafés. They waste the best part of their lives. Perhaps, they think they still have a long time, which leads them to miss their most valuable ones. However, they will finally regret their wrongdoings.

Hence, learning about what death is and how to make life more substantial is an important subject for life. This book is worth reading because we can benefit from a lot of life lessons. Above all, when we go through similar predicaments, we are able to understand different points of view from Morrie’s life philosophy. By reflecting on our lives with a positive attitude, our lives will become more colorful and rewarding.