Tuesdays with Morrie (1)

This is a book full of humanity. Yet it will not get the readers prepared for the cruelty of reality. Had Morrie not been covered by health insurance, would he have had the luxury to sit there and think about the meaning of life and death? Just think about. It's hard to set a priority list as Morrie suggested if there's no financial security to back it up.

Here are some quotes.

I had my first serious encounter with death. It was the most helpless I have ever felt in my life. After the funeral, my life changed. I felt as if time were suddenly precious, water going down an open drain, and I could not move quickly enough. I buried myself in accomplishments, because with accomplishments, I believed I could control things, I could squeeze in every last piece of happiness before I got sick and died.

Morrie's aphorisms: Accept what you are able to do and what you are not able to do; accept the past as past, without denying it or discarding it; learn to forgive yourself and to forgive others; don't assume that it's too late to get involved.

To compensate for my youth on campus, I wear old gray sweatshirts and box in a local gym and walk around with an unlit cigarette in my mouth, even though I do not smoke. I drive a beat-up Mercury Cougar, with the windows down and the music up. I seek my identity in toughness - but it is Morrie's softness that draws me, and because he does not look at me as a kid trying to be something more than I am, I relax.

What happened to me? I once promised myself I would never work for money, that I would join the Peace Corps, that I would live in beautiful, inspirational places. ... My days were full, yet I remained, much of the time, unsatisfied. What happened to me?

Have I told you about the tension of opposites? Life is a series of pulls back and forth. you want to do one thing, but you are bound to do something else. Something hurts you, yet you know it shouldn't. You take certain things for granted, even when you know you should never take anything for granted. A tension of opposites, like a pull on a rubber band. And most of us live somewhere in the middle. Which side wins? Love wins. Love always wins.

Why did we bother with all the distractions we did? We gave up days and weeks of their lives, addicted to someone else's drama. The culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves. And you have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn't work, don't buy it. So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they're busy doing things they think are important. This is because they're chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.