The first book I reviewed on this site was Personal Development for Smart People by Steve Pavlina and while this book I’ll review is not considered of self-help, it does teach something profound, perhaps something that self-help ‘gurus’ have no knowledge over. It is a non-fiction and written by Mitch Albom, an acclaimed writer for the Detroit Press. I believe Albom is a great example of a man who got know himself better through another human being. Something that all of us, if we are lucky and intelligent enough, will experience at some point in our lives.

There is a good reason why ‘Tuesdays with Morrie’ has sold near 10 million copies in the United States alone and several more million around the world (The book has been printed in 40 territories and 42 languages), and on top of that it is been considered the best-selling memoir of all time. The reason, I believe, is that it is celebrates the life of a beautiful being who faces death, and yet, for him, it was not the end, but the beginning of a new process. His death sentence, was not the end, it was the beginning. I should also mention that it was Morrie’s story that inspired to begin asking questions like “What is close to your heart?”, “What does really matter to you?”,and so on.Morrie Schwarts was a professor in Brandeis University and one of his fortunate students is the author of the book, Mitch Albom. In fact, Morrie was Mitch’s favorite professor Mitch became deeply close to Morrie, and he grew in his college years along with his professor, friend, and mentor, Morrie. Beyond all of the profound lessons that I will share in the next couple of paragraphs (which will be mostly quoted from the book itself) I can only say that I felt a bit of jealousy because I haven’t yet met a professor or adult like this. While I have read from plenty of them, I’m still to meet and spend much time with a true role model. Now, I originally planned to write about many of the lessons that Morrie shares with Mitch  as their last thesis (the book) was developed, but that would give too much away, therefore I’ll only touch on the subject that made the most impact on me and I bet will make an impact on you as well. The subject: Dying is not a sad thing, living unhappily is.

God knows that there were times where you and I have been through what seemed to be ultimate pain. I said “seemed” because the pain we feel to be ultimate is not so ultimate once we meet someone who got involved in a terrible car accident where the other person died and you have to carry with that death on your soul everyday. Now, that is only type of experience. There are parents who lost their sons, or a wife who lost her husband, or vice-versa. There are some pains that are harder to overcome than others, but the truth remains that there is no pain that never goes away. All sort of pains eventually die off, and they die off faster if you work on your soul to heal the pain, rather than just waiting for time to do so, or to pretend that there is no pain at all. The saying of “just keep living your life” is not the best advise you can give to someone.

The biggest pain, however, is living unhappily. Because no matter how much pain you go through your life, you will die. I will die. We will die. There will be a time where anyone who reads this article, will die. And that must be the suckiest part about life, but we have to accept it. It’s not like we can’t change anything about it anyway. Well, Morrie Schwartz – this incredible being – teaches us that since we all will die, then we might as well LIVE IT BIG while we are alive. Now, what does LIVING IT BIG mean? Have as much as fun as you can? Yeah, but not exactly. To Morrie, living it big means living happily and with a sense of purpose and contribution. I was amazed as to how – regardless of his sickened condition – he still contributed to the world (he came out in a night show called “Nightline” three times), to the people that read the book (he was aware the book would be published), and to Mitch, changing his life forever. I mean… the mere fact of this writing should tell you that Morrie Schwartz made a lasting impression on me and I never even met him! That’s how you know when something or someone is important

You’ll have to read it to understand because no review will ever come close to demonstrate his incredible wisdom. Buy the book, read it, highlight the parts that you like, then re-read it, and then rent the movie. You’ll love it.

In the spirit of Morrie Schwartz, I wish you all the best.