Tuesdays With Morrie Book Report

Everyone has different experiences with loss or threats, but in almost every case, they change the person. In Mitch Albom's Tuesdays with Morrie, Morrie experiences a major, and irreversible, threat on his life when he gets sick. This causes him and his old student Mitch to re-examine the way they lived their lives, and the way they are going to live the rest of their days. It alters the way that they view others and their entire relationship with the rest of society and, as is the case with most other losses similar to this, it completely changes the way that they view the entire world and everyone in it.

A loss could mean a multitude of things, it could be a loss of life such as a friend or relative, a loss of security, and loss of wealth, you could be losing your job, your freedom, or even your possessions. A threat could be interpreted in a few different ways too, if could be a threat to your family, your reputation, your health, your well-being, or even your life. Everyone experiences different losses or threats and everyone views the outcome of these experiences differently. Some people will give up on everyone and just sit around feeling sorry for themselves, while others will be moved by their experience and try to affect as many people around them as they can, usually in a positive way. In the book, Morrie says "I give myself a good cry if I need it. But then I concentrate on all the good things still in my life. On the people who are coming to see me. On the stories I'm going to hear. On youÐ'--if it's Tuesday. Because we're Tuesday people." (Albom 57) This is showing how his loss has affected how he views other people. He now looks forward to any contact with the rest of the world, he doesn't view it as a business meeting, or just something he has to do. He sees any human contact at all as a blessing and an occasion of joy. He looks forward to seeing anyone at all, and will devote all his attention to that person, without worrying about anything else. It also shows how his experience has taught him that self-pity isn't going to do him any good, and that he might as well enjoy the life he has left, no matter how hard it is to spend that time.

Tuesdays with Morrie shows how such a great loss, Morrie's independence and health, can have such a positive effect on him and others around him. If Mitch had never known Morrie was dying,