Life is God's most precious gift. But it is how we choose to live this gift that gives us full meaning and appreciation of what is truly important.

        Tuesdays With Morrie is a book written by Mitch Albom.  Mitch Albom is a famous sports writer.  He writes for the Detroit Free Press and lives in Michigan with his wife Janine.  This book has touched the hearts of many through its profound words and writing techniques.  Morrie’s words are words of wisdom.  “He wrote bite-sized philosophies about living with death’s shadow: “Accept what you are able to do and what you are not able to do”; “Accept the past as past, without denying or discarding it”; “Learn to forgive yourself and to forgive others”; “Don’t assume that it’s too late to get involved.” (Tuesdays With Morrie, 18)  He is a man dying with ALS and still continues to teach Mitch the greatest lessons of life.  Mitch has a very unique way of writing.  He writes with a great deal of emotion by letting you experience what he’s feeling inside.  His emotions are strong and clear.  They are supported throughout the story by the actions and decisions he makes.  He writes in vivid detail describing significant and insignificant points to visualize his ideas.  He uses the flashback technique for the reader to get a better understanding about him and his relationship with Morrie before he was dying and after he was diagnosed.

The book is based on the drastic change Mitch encounters that turns his life around because of one person.  This person is Morrie.  He was Mitch’s professor in college whom he promised to keep in touch with, but like many, never did.  The demanding pressures of work and other prior engagements tore him away from those most important to him and what he eventually discovered to be the most important: life, and it’s lessons along the way.  He eventually discovers Morrie is now dying by seeing him on TV one night.  He makes an effort to go visit him, and life as he knows it, has already begun to change.  Morrie welcomes him with open arms and they soon get back to the way things were while Mitch was in college.  The book receives its title Tuesdays With Morrie because Mitch went to first visit Morrie on a Tuesday.  After that, he proceeded to visit every following Tuesday.  Tuesday plays an important role throughout the story.  Tuesday was the day Mitch changed his whole schedule around to see Morrie.    Tuesday was the day he proposed to his wife Janine.  And Tuesday was the day that Morrie taught his greatest lessons about life.  He also titled each day throughout the book.  An example of this is “The Tenth Tuesday We Talk About Marriage.”  Then he would talk about Morrie’s lesson as they would discuss the topic together and Mitch would realize what’s truly important in life by mentally noting it.  Throughout the story Morrie often refers to making Mitch cry.  He says “One day, I’ll show you it’s okay to cry.”  Mitch puts on a tough exterior and like most people, hides from the things he most fears.  Morrie teaches him to confront his fears and that it’s okay to cry, and he does, the day he says good-bye to Morrie.  The book’s theme is life’s greatest lesson.  Morrie helps Mitch to see that it’s not money or fame that makes you truly happy, but the love you give and receive from others, as well as the happiness you give yourself.  After Morrie dies, his lessons play in Mitch’s head as he goes on living life day by day.  His life has changed for he is now living as Morrie would, to the fullest.

“Have you ever really had a teacher?  One who saw you as a raw but precious thing, a jewel that, with wisdom, could be polished to a proud shine?  If you are lucky enough to find your way to such teachers, you will always find your way back.  Sometimes it is only in your head.  Sometimes it is right alongside their beds.  The last class of my old professor’s life took place once a week, in his home, by a window in his study where he could watch a small hibiscus plant shed its pink flowers.  The class met on Tuesdays.  No books were required.  The subject was the meaning of life.  It was taught from experience.  The teaching goes on.” (Tuesdays With Morrie, 192)  Life is a challenge, an experience.  The greatest lessons learned are often told by those who have lived them.  Morrie is an example of how to live life.  And Mitch is an example of how to change your life.  Together, they are life’s greatest lesson of living, learning, and passing it on.