Tuesdays With Morrie
Posted by tom | Aug 3, 2005"In the beginning of life, when we are infants, we need others to survive, right? And at the end of life, when you get like me, you need others to survive, right?"
His voice dropped to a whisper. "But here's the secret: in between, we need others as well" (pp.156-7).
Theresa picked up Tuesdays With Morrie at the library, when looking for a book on tape for our summer road trips. This proved to be quite a good choice, subsequently recommended to us by the Barnes & Nobles Summer Reading Table and my sister, who came across a copy at her work's lending library. Asking around, a number of people have read this piece and also have picked up Albom's recent 5 People You'll Meet in Heaven.
What is the attraction of Tuesdays With Morrie?
We found that his interview style allows the character to speak and what a story Morrie has to share! A life lived with openness, humility, and regular application of how he understood the meaning of life. Maybe, Brandeis University served as a bubble, enabling Morrie's teaching to be lived out. But it is exceptional that one finds reflective members of the university community who come alongside those with whom they have natural contact in their day to day work and share their lives and their guiding principles.
The mentee's openness in confessing his failure (and that of the boomer generation) to live up to its collegiate rhetoric, even though some of its prophets continued to be faithful even to death, demonstrates the power of his mentor's teaching, but will it cause Albom to live differently? Not surprisingly, Morrie points out materialism did not deliver for the boomers and left them in pursuit of that which could not satiate their thirst for meaning.
Although compelling in a way, we are not jumping on the bandwagon of reviving the renaissance humanism epitomized by Morrie, we must remember how although a few elite have found solace and direction in this perspective, this also fails to provide all it promises. For truly we cannot create our own subculture, we must step into a support community. The university can provide such a haven, but it is limited and can take a bureaucratic, elitist turn. Also, let us not forget that Albom's (& many in his generation) stepped past this offering and despite the angst, don't seem to be reconsidering their decision.
As Morrie pointed out in the above quote, we always need others. We need that which is beyond us. We cannot go it alone. We have found our daily Bread coming from the Father and we give thanks. He is there day by day, even when its hard (whether at the beginning, end, or middle of life).
