Tuesdays with Morrie summary

Have you ever lost touch with someone who once meant the world to you? If you haven’t, consider what it might be like to slowly drift out of each other’s lives – or to separate with the intention of keeping up the relationship, but never quite finding the time to do so.

It’s painful, right? You might feel guilt, disappointment, or regret about not reaching out. You might yearn for the connection you used to have, or the person you were during that time.

Now imagine you learn that person is dying. How would you feel? What would you do?

Well, if you’re like Mitch Albom, you’d reach out to reconnect.

In Tuesdays with Morrie, Albom recounts an incredible final lesson between himself and an old professor of his – Morrie. As Morrie deals with a devastating disease, Albom visits him every Tuesday during the professor’s last three and a half months of life. The book is the final thesis they wrote together, and it covers topics including aging, family, and society.

In this Blink, we’ll trace the men’s special relationship from the beginning to the reconnection and, finally, the end. We’ll delve into some of Morrie’s thoughts on living and dying. And as we do, you’ll find new ways of thinking about life and what matters most.

Fast forward 16 years from Albom’s college graduation, and he had most decidedly not kept in touch with his old professor. He’d also lost almost all the optimism he’d felt that day, so many years before. As he neared 40, he was experiencing anxiety about how his life was turning out and what the point of everything was.

By society’s popular criteria, Albom’s life was fantastic – he’d become a successful sportswriter, made tons of money, bought fancy cars and a house, gotten married to a woman he loved. And yet Albom couldn’t help feeling he wasn’t successful enough. He felt restless. He worried about aging out and being replaced by younger people.

Albom filled his time chasing accomplishment after accomplishment. He stayed focused on achieving so he didn’t have time to think about how unsatisfied he was. In fact, for a while, he believed he was satisfied.

Think about it – when you accomplish something, how do you feel? It’s satisfying, right? At least at first. But how quickly does that feeling fade? How quickly do you fall back into the grind, working away toward the next task to be completed?

Albom was stuck in this cycle.

To make matters worse, he’d lost contact with almost everyone from college – all the people who’d influenced him and been part of his life during those years of incredible self-discovery and possibility. Including Morrie.

As Albom’s life expanded, Morrie’s wound down. It started slowly, a story that might sound familiar – a few stumbles, difficulty breathing, issues with fatigue. He was in his seventies, so no one thought much of it. Eventually, though, Morrie knew something was truly wrong.

After numerous tests offered no answers, one doctor finally ran a muscle biopsy. Ultimately, this led to a diagnosis of ALS – amyotrophic lateral sclerosis – in the summer of 1994.

ALS is also called Lou Gehrig’s disease. It attacks the neurological system, slowly causing the body to lose the ability to control itself. Although Stephen Hawking, the famous physicist, survived for five decades after his ALS diagnosis, most people only survive up to five years after being diagnosed.

Morrie would end up living less than two.

The professor grappled with this diagnosis, figuring out what it would mean for the rest of his life even as he started losing control of his body. Though he’d lost the ability to drive a car and needed a cane to walk, Morrie taught one final class in the fall of 1994. He was determined not to leave this life before he had to.

In fact, Morrie asked his friends and family not to treat him any differently. He wanted to keep hearing their problems, keep visiting with them and discussing life. He started writing down bits of wisdom that came to him as he considered both life and his nearing death.

One of his friends sent Morrie’s words to a reporter who published an article on him, which led to several appearances on television. And thus, one Friday night as Albom flipped through channels, he heard a TV show host mention Morrie Schwartz.

This is how Albom learned his old professor was dying.

Have you ever heard news that utterly shocked you? Felt the entire world as you know it begin to crumble?

When Albom learned of Morrie’s struggle with ALS, he went numb at first. Then, he set up a meeting. After 16 years, he wasn’t sure how to feel about reconnecting – besides guilty and awkward.

He also felt embarrassed. Morrie had once believed in him so much, but Albom had lost touch with his younger self. He hoped he could fool his professor into thinking he was still that young, idealistic student … at least for the length of his visit.

By the time they reconnected, Morrie was in a wheelchair, his legs unable to support him. Albom hugged his professor tightly, clinging to both his old Coach and the memory of his younger self.

That first visit, Morrie started their conversation right off the bat – he wanted to tell Albom how it felt to be dying.

Not the light chitchat you might expect after so long apart, huh? But then, theirs had always been a relationship of deep conversation and connection. Although he didn’t realize it at the time, Albom’s last class with his favorite professor had just begun.

They talked for over two hours during that visit. Morrie was candid about his situation – he would eventually die by suffocation, his lungs losing the ability to function. But he didn’t feel sorry for himself, which surprised Albom.

Instead, Morrie wanted to appreciate life while he had it. He also wanted to give all he had to those around him for as long as he could. He talked about meaningful connections with others, how lucky he was to love and be loved by so many people. He mentioned the disconnect many people feel even as they pursue things they think are important. He touched on passion and devoting oneself to the things that give them a sense of purpose.

As they spoke, Albom felt everything – the guilt and discomfort, yes, but also some of his old optimism and idealism. Upon his departure, his professor told him to come back and visit again.

Albom promised to do so, though he couldn’t help feeling uneasy remembering the last time he promised Morrie to stay in touch.

What do you think happened this time?

Well obviously we know he went back again – it’s the premise of this whole story! But it was over a month later that Albom actually returned. He flew to London for work, covering the Wimbledon tennis tournament. He felt disconnected, wondering at how deeply people actually cared about sports and media coverage of celebrities.

A side note here – Albom later learned that Morrie had continued to read newspapers even as he slowly lost ground to ALS. The professor liked keeping up with world events, even if he didn’t desperately covet others’ lives.

Anyway, after Albom returned home, he awoke to some unsettling news – his union was on strike. He couldn’t work, visit the office, or even contact anyone at his newspaper. After a week of feeling entirely unmoored, still digesting his conversation with Morrie, he called up his former professor.

They planned a visit for the following Tuesday.

For 14 weeks, Albom visited Morrie every Tuesday. Morrie told him to ask anything, and Albom took him at his word. They covered topics like aging, society, and death. And together, they came up with the material for one last thesis about a meaningful life.

We’ll explore some of their conclusions in the following section.

How much time have you spent thinking about the meaning of life? Do you have a clear, guiding philosophy for living?

Many of us today don’t. Or we subscribe to societal views, which are often propagated by media and businesses that want us to continually buy new products.

In fact, one of the biggest reasons Albom struggled with his life before reconnecting with Morrie was that he’d bought into society’s lies about what a meaningful life entailed.

He was so focused on his next success at work, or his next big purchase, that he didn’t take the time to sit back and enjoy life or think about what was most meaningful to him.

But as Albom reconnected with his old professor, his thoughts changed. Morrie’s direct experience with dying gave him a unique perspective – and he eagerly shared his knowledge with those still in the living stage of life.

As we learned before, Morrie asked those around him to not treat him differently. Sure, he eventually needed help getting dressed and going to the bathroom, but he didn’t let that change the discussions and problem-sharing he had with others. He told his wife and his sons to continue living their lives, so that his own life would be the only one the disease took.

Morrie certainly had enough visitors and phone calls to keep him busy anyway – the many people whose lives he’d touched all wanted to connect at least once more before he died.

At the end of his life, Morrie could provide direct evidence of the benefits of valuing and working on love and connections with others. Many people today search for meaning in materialism, just as Albom did before he reconnected with Morrie. We place importance on having the nicest television or car or latest fashions. But as Morrie saw in his last few months of life, it was the love and connection he experienced with those around him that brought the most joy and meaning to his days.

This was one lesson Morrie taught Albom – when your culture isn’t working, when it’s not providing you a fulfilling life, you have to be strong enough to turn away and create your own purpose and meaning. That could mean spending time with loved ones instead of working endless hours in the office. Or spending money on events and experiences with people you care about rather than on material objects.

One way Morrie went against traditional societal expectations was to hold a living funeral in the last half year of his life. He invited friends and loved ones over, and they shared their favorite memories with Morrie and the lessons he’d taught them – just as we do at traditional funerals. But because Morrie was still alive, he got to experience and appreciate all the wonderful things people said about him.

Does the idea of a living funeral make you feel a little uncomfortable? It’s OK – that’s part of what bucking society’s trends does! But it also opens the door to feeling wonderful, beautiful emotions. Although Morrie mourned his failing body, he looked at the experience of dying as another opportunity to give to and connect with those around him. Because of this, his last few months of life were full of not only tears but also love, connection, and joy.

If we refocus our lives toward the things we find truly meaningful and toward the people we care about, we too can feel those rich, powerful emotions of fulfillment and happiness.