HW 22 - Illness & Dying Book Part 1

The book I was assigned to read was, “tuesdays with Morrie” by Mitch Albom. It was published in 1997 by Random House.

Précis: ‘The Audiovisual’: a chapter about an interview at Morrie’s house by the popular and famous Ted Koppel, the host of ABC-TV’s “Nightline”.

·         Gems: Personal meet before interview and Morrie’s perspective of death.

·         Thoughts: Morrie is a strong person. He has lots of hope and knows he will be ok.

Quotes:

1.      “He had refused fancy clothes or makeup this interview. His Philosophy was that death should not be embarrassing; he was not about to power its nose.” (pg 21) I agree with Morrie because I think that death is not embarrassing. Death is a part of life. When he says,” he was not about to power its nose”, it means that he is not hiding the fact that he will die. Morrie doesn’t believe in hiding his illness on the contrary, he wants people to see him for who he is and what he looks like.

2.      “Because Morrie sat in the wheelchair, the camera never caught his withered legs. And because he was still able to move his hands-Morrie always spoke with both hands waving-he showed great passion when explaining how you face the end of life.” (pg 21)   The way that this is written makes it look almost as if they were trying to hide his legs. His legs represent how ill he is and the only thing being captured is his upper body. Yes he speaks with passion but why only tape his upper body? If there is acceptance why not show how ill he is being that he didn’t chose to wear make-up or fancy clothes.

3.      “When all this started, I asked myself, ‘Am I going to withdraw from the world, like most people do, or am I going to live?’ I decided I’m going to live-the way I want, with dignity, with courage, with humor, with composure.” (pg 21)  I liked this quote a lot. I chose it because this quote shows Morrie’s perspective on the way he thinks is living properly. He doesn’t necessarily mean he will live as in he wont die but he is referring to living in hope not by withdrawing himself. Morrie shows a lot of courage because normally the majority of people aren’t too peaceful about knowing their death is coming.

4.      “There are some mornings when I cry and cry and mourn for myself. Some mornings, I’m so angry and bitter. But it doesn’t last too long. Then I get up and say, ‘I want to live . . .’ (pg 21) Even though Morrie is acceptant towards his death it does not change the fact that he is human. He may be strong and keep positive to keep him going longer but truth is everyone is scared to die. It is normal for one to still be upset because their day will come sooner as opposed to those who are not sick.

Wrap up: A connection I have with these quotes is Erik. Morrie and Erik are both similar people. They both want to be accepted as a normal human being even though they are ill. They don’t want to feel useless. “Yet he refused to be depressed. Instead, Morrie had become a lightning rod of ideas.” (pg 20) This quote in particular connects with Erik’s positive attitude. Erik liked to paint and Morrie jotted ideas. In their own ways they liked to share their opinions on how the last moments before death are.   The message I can imply in both cases is Beth’s, which is: "Treat everyone one as what they are, a human being, no matter their position".