A
book by
Mitch Albom.
A true story: Morrie was a
philosophy teacher at a college, and a few decades ago Mr. Albom was taught by him. When he left college,
Mitch promised Morrie he would write. But he did not.
Then like 20 or 30 years later, Morrie had a terrible
disease and was told he had a
limited number of months left to live. His health would
decline so much that he would become completely
dependable on his wife.
The abc television network decided to do a special about him, which was seen on tv all across the country. That's when Mitch saw him, and realized just how much he missed him. So Mitch, now a sports writer, immediately contacts Morrie, and the two hit it off straight away, just like old times back in college. Mitch then realized just how much wisdom there was still left to learn, and how much he wanted to spend time with his old teacher, so he finds out what time of the week suits Morrie best, which happens to be Tuesdays, and hops a flight to Morrie's house every week to speak with him and be with him and learn from him. He brought a tape recorder to "listen to Morrie's voice after he's gone." All according to Mr. Albom, of course.
This book is evil.
Here we have someone who writes to make money. That's what he does. And he turns on the tv one day and sees someone he knows, and understands that this person is now something of a famous figure. He smells cash.
So he contacts Morrie, who he never bothered to contact before, and says how sorry he is for not writing to him, and how much he's missed him, and how sad he is about the illness. In fact, he missed Morrie so much that he's going to come visit him every week.
So in he comes with his tape recorder, asking questions like it was some kind of interview. Which is what it was, I suppose. But I'd be surprised if poor Morrie even knew about the tape recorder. I'm sure Mr. Albom had it well concealed.
Mitch claims to have realized the error of his money-hoarding ways in his book. He says that Morrie, so content with his simple life, has made Mitch understand that money isn't everything, and that he has spent too much time on his writing carreer. That's honestly what he wrote.
Yeah, he's just passing on the wisdom that he had the privilege to get from Morrie, right? He's just sharing his experience right? Yeah, right, just sharing his experiences watching Morrie die bit by bit. Is it because
a) the world needs to know about this sort of thing?
b) there is much to be learnt from this sort of thing?
or b) because america saw this man on tv and want to know more about him, creating a market for information on his final days?
Not surprisingly, Mitch sold the movie rights to someone. Wow, the compassion just pours from the whole book, really makes me feel great. I really got the feeling that Mitch honestly cares about a single thing Morrie is saying. Really, I did. :(