A Tuesday with Morrie

I forgot how much I loved this book. Lately I had been so consumed with homework and extra-curricular activities that I haven't had the time to sit down with a good book. This week, for the first time in a long time, I found myself with a mug of hot chocolate on hand and a book in my lap. Tuesdays with Morrie. And ironically, it was a Tuesday. That's how I got to spend a Tuesday with Morrie.

I love this book because as much as it presents philosophical ideas, its greatest teaching is simply about love and as much as it is about death, it is about life. Love and Life. Two of my favorite topics. And one of my favorite quotes is this

"The problem, Mitch, is that we don't believe we are as much alike as we are. Whites and blacks, Catholics and Protestants, men and women. If we saw each other as more alike, we might be very eager to join in one big human family in this world, and to care about that family the way we care about our own." Morrie - Tuesdays with Morrie

Just a quick glance at the news, a skim of the newspaper and we see the horrors of the world. War, famine, disease, murder, lies, prejudice. I know it's said all of the time. It has become a cliche. "Love, don't hate" "Peace over War". But when I still hear about a judge sentencing a woman to jail solely for not taking off her religious burka in court, I think we need love. And when I see pictures of current day genocide refugees fleeing for their lives, I think we need peace. And when I read about two-week old infants being left to die in alleys among the garbage, I think we need life. We hear about it everyday, but does that mean it's okay for us to get used to it, to accept it? Is it just a part of the "culture"? I think to myself, how amazing and how wonderful would it be if we really could just come together into "one big human family in this world." And if we all could just give and take the kind of love Morrie did, wouldn't it be possible?