Picture this: Three carts of books are left in the centre of the library. The books have crumpled pages and wrinkled spines; handprints are on the dusty covers. The sign on the side of the cart reads “free books.”
Throughout the day, the books with flashy covers are picked up and dusted clean, taken by students whose eyes have been caught by these long-forgotten books.
Despite ignoring the carts for the day, I decided to return to the library to take a quick look before I left. My backpack was already filled to the brim with papers from graded high school assignments that finally got returned, and I was in no need of new books, seeing as there were multiple novels on my shelves still waiting to be read.Â
But, my curiosity got the better of me. The library was quiet, more quiet than usual; no students were rushing about the halls or random sounds of yelling. The librarian was so preoccupied with a task on her computer that she didn’t hear me greet her.
I went to the first cart and it had a few books left: Warrior Cat volumes and mangas, nothing that would particularly make me risk years of back pain to take home.
The next cart was similar but had more ’80s horror novels with brightly detailed covers. There was one book different from the rest in the lineup. Plain and simple with no eye-catching details and the words Tuesdays with Morrie written on the cover.
Following the title is the sentence, “An old man, a young man, and life’s greatest lesson.”
It’s a self-help book I thought at the time, maybe I can laugh about this later when reading about the “life-changing” advice it gave me. The book couldn’t have been more than 200 pages, and I had no idea how life-changing it would actually be.Â
The book had been sitting in my collection throughout my last two years in high school; it was only when I entered university that I decided to pick it up — just as something to read to pass the time on my commute.Â
Author Mitch Albom wrote this book as a final thesis to his professor, Morrie Schwartz. The story follows Mitch, who becomes a sports journalist despite his true passion for music and lacks a lustre for his life. After hearing that a professor he connected with in college had fallen ill with ALS, he wants to reconnect and, in a way, say his final goodbye.Â
The two find each other’s company comforting and decide to meet every Tuesday to talk.Â
With each Tuesday, which is how the chapters are separated, Mitch learns a new lesson about life. Due to Morrie’s depleted health, he offers Mitch a unique perspective on life’s true purpose, contrasting the commonly morbid portrayals of death.
“Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live.”
Tuesdays with Morrie
Finding your purpose doesn’t rest on what profession you choose or how much money you make but rather on your ability to connect with other people. One of the central themes in the book is understanding that “The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love and to let it come in.”
By acknowledging mortality, Morrie tells Mitch that understanding that we are only here for a short time will push us to value the little things in our lives and to pursue the things that bring us joy and gratitude.Â
Morrie contemplates the fact that we need people around us to survive when we’re young and care for us when we’re old, but we often forget that we need each other in the middle as well.
“Sometimes you can’t believe what you see; you have to believe what you feel.”
Tuesdays with Morrie
Detaching from one’s emotions is also what prevents them from truly living. Feeling the true grasp of pain, joy, grief, loneliness, love, and all the other emotions is preventing you from experiencing life.Â
Morrie tells Mitch to open the faucet and wash himself with all his feelings because that is the only way to stop his emotions from controlling him. We are often taught to push our emotions aside, yet being comfortable with how you react to things will bring you closer to yourself and closer to the people around you.
This book has taught me many lessons, and I continue to recommend it to friends. This is the kind of book that changes your perspective on life and always lingers when you begin to look toward your future.
To think that I could’ve looked past this book in the library that day makes me feel like it’s my duty to share it with everyone else.