Purpose of Life? Just Ask Morrie.

       At graduation, Mitch promised Morrie, his college professor, that he would keep in touch with him. He loved this professor and he agreed to stay connected. But he shortly got lost in his own life and lost all contact with everyone from college. Then one night, after a stressful day at work, he was watching TV and a show called “Night Line” came on. And there, being interviewed, was his old beloved professor. He was in a wheelchair and had just been diagnosed with ALS and was expected to die shortly. Mitch finally felt the guilt that he hadn’t kept up with Morrie and decided to go visit him. When he did, they talked for hours. It was time for him to go but he just hadn’t had enough. He kept coming back, their day was Tuesday. Every week. He wanted to get as much insight and advise as he could. 

      This book, Tuesdays With Morrie, is a story of life. It mentions the ups, and the downs. The happy times and the sad times. It ‘s experiences and lessons learned from life. The events of this book are from Mitch’s point of view about all the talks on Tuesdays that he had with Morrie sitting next to his bedside while he was dying. Each chapter is a Tuesday that he talks about life and death. Morrie is a very loving man, he’s like everyone’s favorite grandpa. Mitch doesn’t like to outwardly express his feelings. By the way he writes, though, you can tell that the things Morrie tells him is very emotional and touching to him. He says how deep inside, he wants to show his affection, but he restrains. Because it is the end of his old friend’s life, I wonder why he does.

      I am in high school, and I’m glad I read this at this time of my life. Some may disagree, and it can be for anyone, but I think that this book is aimed for young adults. When Mitch got lost getting caught up in his job and money, Morrie put him back in his place making sure he knew what was really important in life. I think Mitch was writing this so others wont make the same mistake as he did, and won’t waste any one moment of their life. 

      One of the many purposes of Mitch writing this book is because Morrie shared the purpose of life. And what he broke it down to was simply love. As he said, “The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in” (52). He emphasized it was important not to focus on the things that don’t really matter because it wastes your life. Morrie said that people are afraid to die. They don’t accept that it will happen to them. But once it does hit them, then they realize they need to live in and enjoy their every moment. 

     Some of the interesting stylistic forms in this book was something that stood out to me. The way Mitch chose to write the dialogue. When he and Morrie, but just Morrie, were speaking, Morrie’s lines were in quotes, but his weren’t. For example, 

“... Morrie smiled. “I was like everyone else. I once told a friend of mine, in a moment of exuberance, ‘I’m gonna be the healthiest old man you ever met!’”

How old were you, I asked.

“In my sixties.”

So you were optimistic. 

“Why not?” (82).

Another interesting elements of the style was at the end of each chapter, there was a separated little section of text in italics. It was background information, a quote, a flashback, etc. not related to the present story that was being told. That was a nice effect and added interest. 

      Finally, the tone of this book is melancholy. I think this quote explains that perfectly, “Truth is Mitch, once you learn how to die, you learn how to live” (82).  That is so beautiful, yet so sorrowful. It is tender because of the occasion; an old man telling a young man of his accomplishments and reflecting of life. On the contrast though, it is very sad because his life is ending, and Mitch should have taken advantage of the times that he could have had with him. He should have been focusing on the important things. It really made me think about whether or not I have been and am focusing on the things that I will not regret once I have no more life left to live. Though, it has made me think that I do have a lot of life left so I need to make choices that I will never regret. 

Sources: Albom, Mitch. Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Greatest        Lesson. New York: Doubleday, 1997. Print.

Green Eggs and Ham

Dr. Seuss is a genius. He is so simple, yet makes a strong point. He used rhyming and repetition. That is so helpful and powerful for little kids because that helps them not only learn, but remember too. Dr. Seuss was a perfectionist on all his books and spent about a year average on each y of his children books! And the fact that they are only children’s books, so ‘simple’, a year is a long time. To Dr. Seuss though, I guess they weren’t only children’s books. They were more. They were his life. He took his ideas and gift and shared them with kids all around the world. 

I remember sitting on my couch in the living room closing the book, Green Eggs and Ham, with the biggest feeling of accomplishment I had ever felt. I had read it, all by myself. The first book I had read all by myself. All by myself! It was the book that had taught me how to read. And it was long, it was a whole 62 pages. Ever since, it has been my all time favorite book. It has always been the thing I was so proud of, those words that taught me how to read, that book. 

According to Publisher’s Weekly in 2001, Green Eggs and Ham is the fourth-best-selling children’s book in the English language of all time. To think of all the millions of children’s books out there, one about something as odd as mysterious green eggs and green ham is among the top best selling of all time. So I’m not the only one that thinks that this book is mighty fine. Its a classic, one that everyone should read and be familiar with. 

Green Eggs and Ham is not only a best seller, it’s about selling something. Sam-I-Am tries to get the other unnamed character to try something he wasn’t familiar with. He refused, convinced he wouldn't like them and said he “would not eat them here or them, he would not eat them anywhere”. Sam-I-Am persisted. It wasn’t about control though, it was about persuasion. He was simply trying to get the other character to step out of his comfort zone a little bit and try something Sam-I-Am though he would like. Finally, to stop being bugged about it, he tried them. And what did this character come to realize? He likes these green eggs and ham!

Even though this book is a simple story of trying to get someone to try weird food, I can apply it to my own life. It gives me a good perspective on how I should more often do things I may not necessarily usually do. Naturally, I don’t usually do things or like to do things that are out of my comfort zone. But once I do them, I find that I am glad that I did. It gives you a lot more opportunity and look on different things. Sometimes you need to try things to find out what you really do or don’t like. Even if it wasn’t my favorite thing, or I might not do it again, I find I'm usually glad that I tried it at least once.