Tuesdays With Morrie

I was watching a program today that featured a 10-year anniversary of a book by Mitch Albom, entitled "Tuedays With Morrie: An Old Man, A Young Man and Life's Greatest Lesson". It deals with our relationships with other people and what is really important in our lives. Money, work and possessions aren't the upmost important things in our lives. (Or, money, work and possessions shouldn't be the upmost important things in our lives.) It basically says that our relationships with others should be our most important pursuits in life.

I have lost one sister to a heart attack. I lost another sister years ago because bitterness over possessions caused a huge chasm that will probably never be bridged. I was at fault, too, because I was determined that I wasn't going to say "I'm sorry" one more time, because I was tired of saying it. It was the principle of the thing, ya know? Looking back, I wonder why I felt I needed to say "I'm sorry" in the first place. Anyway, I forgave her but she refuses to speak to me.

I'm like a lot of folks - when I get riled up by being unfairly accused of something, I say things I ordinarily wouldn't say. My mouth gets a head start on my brain. The mouth is off running and the brain is saying "No! Don't say that! Quit! Come back here! Are you crazy?" But the damage is done. After the fires have been put out and everyone is calm again, we can usually repair the damage.

I lost someone else to a relationship upheaval. This one was more difficult, I think, because of the age difference. I'm at an age where I don't have time for all this garbage and I think she is young enough to not even care if the relationship gets back on track. It will be important one day, but I probably won't even be alive then.

That's what the basis of the book is. When all is said and done, what would you like to have during your dying days - money? possessions? your work history? (After you're gone, your co-workers won't even remember you. The new people who come after you won't even know who you were, period!) BUT! Your daughters, sons, grandchildren, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, cousins - they are the ones who will remember you. They might even be with you on your dying day. Your money won't comfort you, your possessions and your career won't be there to remember you after you're gone, but your family will.

On the program, Mitch Albom said to pretend there is a little bird on your shoulder. Every day, you ask the little bird, "Is this the day I die?" If the little bird says "Yes", will you be ready? Will you be able to say that you've lived a profitable life? He didn't mean profitable moneywise, but profitable in relationships and good works. If the little bird says "No", then you have time to make changes.

I'm going to get the book and read it. Morrie was a real person, an educator, husband and father. Although he was stricken with ALS and it changed his life, he was already in this frame of mind. Mitch was a former student of his who started visiting with him and it changed Mitch's life, too.