Once again I am behind in writing my blog posts, and I think, in this case, it is because every time I start to think about what I want to say about our August selection, Tuesdays with Morrie, I have little to no interest putting thoughts on the page. Why, you may wonder, or perhaps you don’t, but I’ll elucidate anyhow: Tuesdays with Morrie is a tiny little book full of life lessons expressed in a simplistic, not too deep manner, which nevertheless always hit home with me. It is a book that is firmly in my “love it” column, one I would, and do, highly recommend and because of all this, it’s boring to write about. I think I’d much rather be tearing apart the next James Patterson failure than espouse poetic about a book I love. And there you have it, my personality in a nutshell. Ah well, perhaps I can redeem myself by getting deeply personal about a book that speaks to me on so many levels….
I don’t remember how I stumbled across the movie, Tuesdays with Morrie, starring Hank Azaria as Mitch Albom, and Jack Lemmon as Morrie Schwartz, but I watched it and loved it, and then discovered it was based on a book. Off to my library I went to find the book. The two are very similar so it was instantly a case of love the movie, love the book. The story is a fairly simplistic one: Sports journalist Mitch Albom spends most of his time chasing the story and earning money that his family and friends fall by the wayside until by chance he catches an interview of his old professor, Morrie Schwartz, talking about living with Lou Gehrig’s disease or ALS. As it would happen, his union is on strike, so he has the time to seek out Morrie and the two resume their old friendship, and Mitch is there for Morrie and his family right up to Morrie’s death. In the process, Mitch learns many life lessons, not the least of which are to value the people in your life and to stop and smell the roses once in a while.
A cynic could read this and zero in on the fact that Mitch was out of work when he sought out Morrie, and if he’d been working, perhaps he wouldn’t have spent so much time with his former friend and professor, but I like to see it as serendipity. Being out of work gave Mitch the opportunity to learn some much needed life lessons and ultimately change his life in the end, something he would have needed to be self-aware enough to recognize and embrace. Let’s just say there were a few cynics amongst the book club group raining on my serendipitous parade, but I didn’t let that get me down for long.
Some others in the book club had never read any of Albom’s books before, but had heard his sports commentary, and didn’t particularly like him as a person. The thought that perhaps the book was written more as a money-making scheme than as a need to share a true epiphany was also bandied about, but regardless of how you think of Albom as a person, you hopefully can see the best of the book for what it is: a celebration of life, not from Albom’s point of view, but from Morrie’s, a man who lived his life simply, doing what he loved to do best (teaching), and embracing friends and family so much so that at his death, he was surrounded by so many people he’d come to know and love throughout his long life and career. Morrie’s thoughts on life and death pepper this book, and leave one with much fodder for thoughtful introspection.
Till next time, happy reading!
L 
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