Tuesdays with Morrie III

Tuesdays With Morrie

By: Mitch Albom

Publisher: Random House

Year published: 1997

Precis: We are all just small fractions apart of something bigger.

"We are afraid of the sight of death...people act as if death is contagious" pg 171

People are afraid of the sight of death because it reminds them that one day it will be them. Most people avoid the uncomfortable thoughts of the unknown. It goes back to the idea of isolation. Weathers it’s an institution, or just a room the sick are isolated. People tend to stay away in order to not get sick. The dying is also isolated from others, sent to a hospital, maybe another intuition like a nursing home. Once again, people are content sending the dying away to avoid any experience with facing death. Even further evidence of isolation are cemeteries, used to isolate the dead from everyone else.

“That’s what we’re all looking for. A certain peace with the idea of dying. If we know, in the end, that we can ultimately have that peace with dying, then we can finally do the really hard thing.” “Which is?” “Make peace with living.” pg 173 if a person can accept the limited time they have, then they potentially will live a more fulfilling life. But I feel as though this idea can go both ways. I think Morrie was so accepting of dying because in the end he was happy with his life. He lived a life, teaching people, forgiving people and addressing his regrets only then was he able to accept dying more willingly.

After finishing the book Tuesdays with Morrie, Im left questioning dying, death, and overall life. Ive read the book before, however reading it with prior knowledge of illness and dying I took away a different impression. i went from feeling a little offended by Morries acceptance of dying, to now blaming some people in the book for making his death somewhat of a public event. After being diagnosed Morrie took on the role of teaching people about dying. He spent time with people who came to vist him and ask questions. But who made him the expert? Does a person have to have a direct experience with facing death to be an expect? This book succeeded in bringing up questions related to our units, ones that probably wont ever get answered but are always up for debate: simply Whats on the “other side”? Where do we go? Do we ever come back?