A Class Every Tuesday

 Good teachers are hard to find, but when found they are even harder to forget. Tuesdays with Morrie is a book about just that. Morrie Schwartz is a college professor, an unforgettable college professor to Mitch Albom. When Mitch graduated college he lost contact with his old professor, and lost the meanings of the lessons that Morrie had taught Mitch. Mitch learned that Morrie had been diagnosed with ALS the same way millions of other people did, during an interview with Ted Koppel. Mitch and Morrie had a special relationship. They were more then just student and teacher; they were buddies. When hearing that Morrie had a life threatening illness he decided to contact his old professor.  They started to meet on Tuesdays just like they did when Mitch was in college. The subject: The meaning of life. During their visits together Morrie shared with Mitch his knowledge of family, death, forgiveness.

            “If you don’t have the support and love and caring and concern that you get from a family, you don’t have much at all.” Morrie (91). This was Morrie’s response when Mitch asked him about family. Mitch and Morrie did not just have one session on this subject. Family was important to Morrie, and he wanted to make sure that Mitch learned the importance of family. Morrie mentioned in one visit that with out the love of his friends and family he would not be able to deal with the disease as well as he is.  Morrie tells Mitch that with love you can be rich and “without love, we are birds with broken wings” Morrie (92). In contrast he also told Mitch that love is not what family is all about. You also need to let the people that you care about know that you are there. Let them know that you are watching them, let them know that you are making sure they are safe. 

            Death was another subject that was often brought due to the obvious circumstances. “Everyone knows they’re going to die but nobody believes it. If we did we would do things differently” Morrie (82). When Morrie found out he was going to die, he made it a point not to sit around and let life pass him by. He wanted to live every moment and make every moment count. Morrie felt lucky that he knew when he was going to die; it gave him a chance to say good-bye to all the people that he loved. Morrie told Mitch that he should not waste so much time with work or other things that might seem as important when your time is limited. Morrie and Mitch would talk next to a window. During one of their talks, Morrie used that window as an example. He told Mitch that he appreciates the window more than Mitch does. Morrie can only look out the window; Mitch can walk out side. Along with being able to say good-bye to those you love, you are also given the chance to forgive those in your life who are seeking your forgiveness.       

Morrie’s lesson on forgiveness was taught with a story. Morrie told Mitch about a close friend, Norman. He would spend a lot of time with this friend. When they both married they still kept in contact. Morrie’s wife had gotten sick. His friend was aware of this, but he never contacted Morrie to see how she was doing. Morrie and his wife were both very offended by this. Morrie held a grudge against his friend for a long time. Many times His friend would try to contact Morrie and his wife. Each time he would ask for their forgiveness.  Morrie would not accept. He kept his grudge. Morrie realized his mistake of not forgiving his friend. When His friend had died of cancer; Morrie never had the chance to say that he forgave him.  “There is no point in keeping vengeance or stubbornness..... These things I so regret in my life..... Why do we do the things we do? Morrie (164)

             Teachers like Morrie can leave impressions in our lives that will never fade.  Mitch was lucky in two ways. He had Morrie as a teacher and as a friend. Mitch was the only student in Morrie’s last class, a class about the lessons of life. The two meet each Tuesday and discussed meaningful topics. They discussed family, death and forgiveness.