Tuesdays With Morrie Research Paper

Tuesdays With Morrie: A Biography of the Blind Blessing “ALS is a neurodegenerative disease where the nerve cells in your muscles die. The ‘living wires’ which connect your brain to your muscles degenerate, leading to a loss of mobility, loss of speech and eventually impact the ability to breathe” (ALS Canada: What is ALS). This is the disease that impacts Morrie so greatly throughout the novel but is not necessarily a villain. Morrie Schwartz does not see his disease, ALS, as a villain, rather a blessing in disguise. This is because it brings him and his student back together, it teaches the coach many valuable life lessons, and helps him spread them around the world.
After the graduation, Mitch does not keep in touch with Morrie at all.
When Morrie first learns about the disease, is not depressed, but inspired. Instead of being sad, he becomes “a lightning rod of ideas...He wrote bite-sized philosophies about living with death's shadow: "Accept what you are able to do and what you are not able to do"; "Accept the past as past without denying it or discarding it"; "Learn to forgive yourself and to forgive others"...” (Albom 18). However, since he is dying, he does become sorrowful at some times. When he begins to feel these emotions, he learns to accept it, but not allow it to consume him. ““Don’t cling to things, because everything is impermanent.”... “Detachment doesn't mean you don't let the experience penetrate you… you let it penetrate you fully.”” (Albom 103). Morrie’s disease does not affect his brain at all, so he can still do what he loves, learning and teaching, until his dying breath, as it says in an article by Paul
Because of the disease, he is able to share them with the world. When Mitch first brings the tape recorder, he thinks that Morrie would not want to be recorded, so he is hesitant to show it to him. But when Mitch starts to put it away, Morrie says that he wants to “remember what we talk about, I told Morrie. I want to have your voice so I can listen to it...later. “When I’m dead.” … “you don't understand. I want to tell you about my life. I want to tell you before I can't anymore.” … “I want someone to hear my story. Will you?” (Albom 63). All Morrie wants is to share his life with the world and because of his disease, he is able to do that. Not only through Mitch and the book but through Ted from Nightline. When Ted begins to interview Morrie, he is very open and honest about his beliefs and feelings. Ted asks what Morrie will dread most about his death, and instead of saying something generic, he says what he really believes, which is that “one day soon, someone's gonna have to wipe my ass.” (Albom 22). As Morrie’s disease progresses, he seems to become more aware of his inner self, as it says in this literary article; “Morrie is diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease: A disease that melts your body from, in Morrie’s case, the legs up. As the disease kills more of Morrie’s body day by day, his wisdom contrarily seems to grow.” (Victor, Emelita. A). Morrie