Wrote a paper on this Mitch Albom book for class... I had no idea I'd love it...

[TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96']

Someone made a book thread on this forum and said one of their favorite books was "5 People You Meet In Heaven" by Mitch Albom.  I had no idea Mitch Albom, a sports jock, would end up being such an insightful author.  Here's the paper I just wrote for one of my health care classes, it's about a previous book by the same author.
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Tuesday's With Morrie

I admit, I wasn’t that interested in reading this book at first.  I did it primarily for the extra credit points because I know I will need them.  I knew who Mitch Albom was because I used to be a sports fanatic growing up and I used to watch him on ESPN Sports Reporters every weekend.  I thought at first, what is this sports jock doing writing about death and dying?  It was unthinking on my part because I realized that really he is a journalist first and a sports writer second.  He even mentions in the book that he had chosen many career paths before he got into sports.

This book is nothing short of remarkable.  It started off slow and I thought I was going to sum up the whole book in a few sentences, “Funny guy, who likes to have fun and dance, is immobilized by disease, his standard of living is impaired, and the book is sad because he dies and can’t have fun anymore”.   Instead the book just kept penetrating deeper and deeper into my consciousness; Morrie could take a simple observation, like watching the colors changing in leaves, and cause you to reflect on your own life and the greatness of the world surrounding you. 
   
I was surprised to find that many of Morrie’s thoughts or ‘aphorisms’ in the book are closely related to my own point a view, and actually served to enhance my own awareness of human thought.  Infact, now, being a health care worker, I think this book will benefit me in my understanding of the aging process.  I already carried with me many the same criticisms Morrie makes about American culture, he says that Americans value the wrong things and this causes them to live disillusioned lives.  He advices Mitch to not “buy into the culture” because it places little value on the important things in life.  Morrie knew that it was more important to develop ourselves as human beings and expand our potential, than it was to expand our bank accounts.  He knew that we should spend more time building our compassion and love for ourselves and others, and less time building tall buildings.

Morrie refocuses Mitch onto what is important in life, “In the beginning of life we need eachother, and when you get old like me you need people, but here’s the secret; in between, you also need others too.”  And he goes on later to say, “People haven’t found the meaning in their lives, so they’re running all the time looking for it.  They think the next car, the next house, the next job.  Then they find those things are empty, too, and they keep running.” 

Morrie was also very funny.  Like when he questioned those fans chanting "We’re #1", by asking “What’s Wrong With Number Two?!” His humor actually reminds me of this fictional character that is really popular in Sufi literature called Mullah Nasrudin.  This fictional literary figure Mullah Nasrudin, offers many spiritual aphorisms, yet he mixes them with a unique brand of humor to draw in the reader.  His statements and actions are sometimes times ‘off the cuff’ and cause the reader to view things from another angle or perspective.  Something like “Mullah Nasrudin, your donkey has disappeared”, and he’ll reply “Thank goodness I wasn’t on it this time, or otherwise I would have disappeared too!”  This is the same way Morrie would use his humor, for the purpose of lightening Mitch up so he could more readily receive his aphorisms.
   
I read with my wife Morrie’s advice on listening so that we can make it a part of our marriage.  Morrie says, “I believe in being fully present, that means you should be with the person you’re with.  When I’m talking to you now, Mitch, I try to keep focused only on what is going on between us.  I am not thinking about something we said last week.  I am not thinking of what’s coming up this Friday.  I am not thinking about doing another Koppel show, or about what medications I’m taking.  I am talking to you, I am thinking about you!” 
   
To conclude, I benefited greatly from this book, I ignored all the hype about Mitch Albom’s new book, “5 People You Meet In Heaven” when I heard about it last year.  Now I am hungry to go and read it.  Mitch Albom is an extremely talented writer, he was able to jump effortlessly from his college years as a student of Morrie, to later years at Morries bedside.  The surprising thing of it all is that Morrie is even more effective as a teacher in his last days, dying brutally from Lou Gehrigs Disease.  This book offered an excellent insight into living and dying.