"Tuesdays with Morrie" a book by Mitch Albom

A teacher's last lesson to his student 

about the ultimate "Tension of Opposites" 

between life and death.

Morris Schwartz was Mitch Albom sociology teacher in college during the early eighties. Morrie was a kind and loving man who loved dancing and loved to share his knowledge about what it meant to be a real human being.

Mitch developed a close connection to Morrie and delighted in exploring his points of view about society as it was perceived at the time. However, after Mitch graduated college, and lost contact with Morrie, he came upon an interview of his old college teacher on television. And discovered that he was suffering from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or ALS, a terminal disease.

After reunited again, Mitch started visiting Morrie every Tuesday into what became his final lesson about life, death, society and basically all the aspects of the human experience.

Morrie, until the very end, possessed a profound understanding on how society viewed the meaning of life and how people mistake purpose with the mundane aspects of such life. Yet, they ignore the simplest instances which help to define them as morally human. 

The philosophy and awareness that Morrie acquire during his last days on earth signified to Mitch a new level of moral consciousness which could be applied to our very own lives.

“Here’s what I mean by building your own little subculture […] I don’t mean you disregard every rule of your community. I don’t go around naked, for example. I don’t run through red lights. The little things, I can obey. But the big things—how we think, what we value—those you must choose yourself. You can’t let any one—or any society—determine those for you.” – Morris Schwartz