Book Review #6

Tuesday’s with Morrie by Mitch Albom is the story of one man’s journey into death and another man being taught how to live by him. Morrie Schwartz, who was once a professor at Brandeis University, has been diagnosed with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease), and the book follows his last few months on this earth through the eyes of Mitch. Mitch is an old student of his, and has not spoken to his professor since they last said goodbye after graduation, sixteen years earlier. Mitch happened to be flipping through the channels one night when he saw his old professor on Nightline with Ted Koppel, and that moment changed his life forever.

After seeing Morrie on television, Mitch then gets in touch with him, and visits him. The visits become a regular thing, and are always on Tuesday’s, because as Morrie states “We’re Tuesday people.” During Mitch’s visits he is able to watch the disease progress over Morrie’s body, at first it seems as if he is uneasy about watching his professor die, but in the end he starts doing more things for him, like adjusting his pillows, massaging his feet, even helping him out of his chair, it just shows how much he grows with each visit.

Tuesday’s with Morrie is a wonderful story. Even though a man is dying he seems to only see the good in life and what life has to offer. He is kind-hearted, and takes on a task of teaching an old student one last time. The message of the book seems to be not to dread the little things in life, don’t spend so much time looking back on what you could have done differently. Look to the future for what you will do next, and live everyday to the fullest, because you never know when death will creep up on you.

One thing I noticed throughout the book was each Tuesday, Mitch would be reading the newspaper, and at least one of the stories had to deal with a sudden death. I thought that was interesting, especially after Morrie had said that you have to live each moment as if you will die in the next. I think the author put the stories in the book to show that. One was a mother shot her two kids and her husband, another was two boys were playing with their father’s gun, and shot each other. It shows that death has no remorse, and can strike anyone even the innocent, and not think twice about it.

This book relates to nursing because it shows the compassion that nurses really need to give their patients. When you are truly passionate about something whether it be your profession or a person, no matter what is going on in their lives you try not to take notice in the bad and only think about the good.

I also believe that this relates to nursing because Morrie talks about how to detach yourselves from your feelings. I know that there will be something’s in my nursing career that I will need to do this with. For instance I would love to work in the ER, and I know that if a trauma came in that was a young boy, I would need to detach myself from the feeling of sorrow, and just have to help my team to save this boy’s life. There will be no time for fear or remorse; I will just have to focus on the task at hand.

Tuesday’s with Morrie showed me that even after someone is gone their spirit will live on, whether it is through their teachings, old photographs, or just simply thinking about that person. When we have had such a strong teacher in our lives, and we take those teachings that they taught us and allow others to experience them, then their spirit will always live on. By retelling of stories we were once told, we show how much we loved and adored that person, because we were paying attention to them enough to recall information about things.

This was actually my second time reading this book, I had to read it for summer reading in high school, the summer I was going into 10^th grade, however I read this book with a new version of myself. Originally when I read this I never really took anything away from it, I only did it because it was summer reading, I didn’t know that there was more meaning behind it.

Having matured quite a bit from the last time that I read this, I found that it was much more meaningful. I found myself really being able to relate to Mitch as he was telling the story. I remember watching my grandfather suffer a few years ago, and I didn’t really understand what I was supposed to do. Just sitting there with him watching him die didn’t appeal to me, it was too hard to watch someone so close to me wither away. Had I read this book a second time, I would have understood that I was keeping him company, and that all he wanted was someone to talk to and to hold his hand, so he wasn’t alone, but instead of doing that I would spend a few hours with him, and that was that. It was all I could bear.

At one point in the book, Morrie says to Mitch “ We put our values in the wrong things. And it leads to very disillusioned lives.” This made me immediately think of my parents. Before my parents divorced, we lived in this gorgeous house that all my friends called a mansion, we had 17+ acres of land, and we always had the top of the line things. It made people think that we were happy, but honestly my parents were masking the hurt and pain. They weren’t happy with eachother at all, but this sort of exterior made people believe that we were all happy inside.

After living in a broken home that was gorgeous for so long, I moved to Vermont into a small apartment with my boyfriend, and I have to say I was happier there than I ever was in that big house. We lived in an apartment that was smaller than my mother’s basement in the house she lives in now, we could barely afford food and only bought things with coupons or that was on sale, but because we were together, we were happy. We didn’t have any money, just enough to get by, but somehow we made it work.

I know several people who if they are unhappy will go out and do “retail therapy,” to make themselves feel better, but in the end they are still unhappy, and now have a bank account that is slowly depleting. People don’t seem to understand that the materialistic things in life aren’t what make like worth living. It’s the love and laughter and the people you grow old with that make it worth it. I know that if all I had were things cluttered everywhere, and no friends, I would not be happy. Sure I would have nice things, but I would have no one to share them with. Without friends and family, why would someone want to live? They would just be bitter, and not know the joys of what having people in your life can bring.

Morrie also says the following “They don’t know what they want in a partner. They don’t know who they are themselves-so how can they know who they’re marrying.” I agree with this saying, to an extent. There is actually a line from a Broadway musical that I think sums this up very well. It’s from Rent; “You’ll never share real love, until you love yourself.” When Morrie said those words, it automatically makes me think of that line from Rent. I believe that this is only partly true, because sometimes it takes loving someone to love yourself. Looking into another person’s heart will show you the compassion that has always been lingering under the surface of your own.

Tuesday’s with Morrie is a wonderful, moving story. I found myself curled up on the couch, with tears streaming from my eyes as I finished this book. The first time I read this I felt nothing, so I don’t feel as though I fully understood it, or even really absorbed it at all. Reading this again, allowed me to see the book from a whole new side. I don’t feel sorry for everything that Morrie went through, I feel blessed to have heard his story. To know that even in the wake of death, he was still fighting and trying to live every moment to the fullest.

I would recommend this book, to anyone that has lost a loved one that they were very close with. It will bring tears to your eyes, but you will remember the times that you had with them whether they were good or bad. Morrie’s story has touched so many people and I hope that it will continue to touch people. It may take a few reads to get the true meaning behind the story, but once you grasp it, it will always stick with you until the day you die. I give this an 8 out of 10 Stars.