Morrie & Me

When is the last time you saw me writing a blog post on a book?  You wouldn’t have, cos I never did. In spite of my reservations against blogging about books, this one made me do otherwise. If you ask me why? the most appropriate answer would be, none other connected with me as deep as this one.

First of all, I would like to thank my sis Sarumathi for gifting me this wonderful book with a sweet personal inscription on the first page. During one of our conversations lately, she mentioned that the book reminded her of myself when she read it and that’s the reason why she gifted the same. So, Saru, I am too glad that you did. As you mentioned, it’s definitely something that I will treasure forever.

Where do I start, how about the book’s name? It’s TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life’s Greatest Lesson by Mitch Albom. This short read is all about the author’s discovery about his terminally ill old sociology professor via a TV interview, his efforts to connect back with him and a series of Tuesday meetings between them that follows. This non-fiction is a project of Mitch Albom, a wannabe musician turned sports journalist along with his dying professor Morrie Schwartz to fund his treatment.

Why I loved reading this book?
I experienced this strange feeling of feeling both heavy and light-hearted simultaneously while reading this book. I was able to well connect with Morrie, his values and his view about life. Tons of times, I have questioned myself on my view on life and the values I uphold. Reading this book felt like someone sitting next to me, gives me a Hi-Fi and comforting me by saying, hey, I am more or less like you and probably you might die merrily if you stay the same. I am always quite skeptical about recommending things to others. But I strongly recommend this one. I completed this book on a Tuesday, isn’t that a silly coincidence.

Concluding this blog post with a few of my favorite quotes from the book.

“Accept who you are; and revel in it.”

“Love is how you stay alive, even after you are gone.”

“Death ends a life, not a relationship. All the love you created is still there. All the memories are still there. You live on- in the hearts of everyone you have touched and nurtured while you were here.”

“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.”

“Forgive yourself before you die. Then forgive others.”

“If you’re always battling against getting older, you’re always going to be unhappy, because it will happen anyhow.”