Tuesdays With Morrie

"Tuesdays With Morrie" is a book about a student's relationship with his college

professor with whom he has been separated for 16 years. The student is reunited with his

teacher after seeing him on a "Nightline" television program, and contacting him after

learning that his old teacher is sick from a Lou Gehrig's disease. He eventually reunites

with his teacher and begins visiting him weekly on Tuesdays, where they discuss a topic

on which the whole book is focused and that is "the meaning of life". Morrie Swartz is a

man who is dying because the disease is slowly spreading throughout his entire body. In

the following essay I will explain why Morrie Swartz is healthy based on the quality

of one's response to life mentally, emotionally, as well as spiritually, and socially. And I

will also clarify why he is not healthy based on his physical condition.

Morrie Swartz is not healthy physically due to the reason that the disease as it

progresses weakens his ability to use his arms and hands as well as legs and feet. He

eventually was not able to stand up on his own and had to use a cane which later became

impossible when he couldn't walk with it anyway. He started moving around in a

wheelchair or otherwise had to be in bed or sitting in the armchair. His legs were

becoming skinnier by the day. He eventually was not able to hold his own weight and had

to either carried or helped even while walking to the bathroom. He would spend time in

his study room where there was a special reclining chair set up with blankets and pillows

and specially cut pieces of foam that that held his feet and gave support to his withered

legs. The disease made his hands basically useless as more time passed. He was able to

write slowly by holding a pen, but he couldn't raise his arms much higher than his chest.

He was unable to wash his hands, or even pull up or down his pants when he made his

way to the bathroom. As time passed he was unable to breathe as he did before, and with

each week his breathing slowed down more and more. He demonstrates that to Mitch

Albom the technique his doctor showed him to test his lungs. In the test Morrie

demonstrates that he can hold his breath only for an eighteen count, as opposed where he

was able to do the same earlier for a twenty-three count. He explains that as that the

process of disease conquering every part of his body. His eating habits are becoming less

and less possible overtime as he is unable to eat anything he wants anymore and basically

eats only soft foods. Towards the end of the book when Mitch Albom comes to visit

Morrie for one of the last times, he enters his bedroom and wants to talk to him, and

Morrie barely opens his mouth to try to speak and what basically happens is he mumbles

and groans and gets tired from just trying to speak.

However, if trying to overlook all of that, Morrie seems to be relatively healthy

based on his mind. He is very optimistic about the remainder of his life in the book. This

is portrayed numerous times in the book. He tells Mitch that he has had a good and

fulfilling life and that the most important thing now is to face the truth and be positive

about what is left of it. He explains that he is not afraid of dying because it's a natural

process that happens to everyone. He also refers to enjoying being pampered constantly

and helped out in the restroom because it makes him feel like he is a little child all over

again. His goal is to try and teach people around him about death as a "living example"

the way he puts it. Another example of him being optimistic about the future is that he

kept lots of newspapers around his room that he read daily to keep up with the world

around him. Any other person who knew that they were dying would never do that. As

opposed to Morrie who seems to live out his last months as nothing is wrong with his life.

He once even told someone while in his sixties that he is going to be the healthiest man to

ever live on the earth. This is certainly the most extraordinary way that I heard someone

refer to their last days like that. He refused to be depressed. He was full of ideas. He

wrote out his thoughts, and came up with philosophies about living in the death of a

shadow.

Spirituality is a big reason why I believe that Morrie is healthy. During the fourth

Tuesday, Morrie explains to Mitch the way he is preparing to die. He refers to what the

Buddhists do, which is to have an imaginary little