Essay About Lots Of Newspapers And Study Room

Tuesdays With Morrie
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“Tuesdays With Morrie” is a book about a students relationship with his college
professor with whom he has been separated for 16 years. The student is reunited with his
teacher after seeing him on a “Nightline” television program, and contacting him after
learning that his old teacher is sick from a Lou Gehrigs disease. He eventually reunites
with his teacher and begins visiting him weekly on Tuesdays, where they discuss a topic
on which the whole book is focused and that is “the meaning of life”. Morrie Swartz is a
man who is dying because the disease is slowly spreading throughout his entire body. In
the following essay I will explain why Morrie Swartz is healthy based on the quality
of ones response to life mentally, emotionally, as well as spiritually, and socially. And I
will also clarify why he is not healthy based on his physical condition.
Morrie Swartz is not healthy physically due to the reason that the disease as it
progresses weakens his ability to use his arms and hands as well as legs and feet. He
eventually was not able to stand up on his own and had to use a cane which later became
impossible when he couldnt walk with it anyway. He started moving around in a
wheelchair or otherwise had to be in bed or sitting in the armchair. His legs were
becoming skinnier by the day. He eventually was not able to hold his own weight and had
to either carried or helped even while walking to the bathroom. He would spend time in
his study room where there was a special reclining chair set up with blankets and pillows
and specially cut pieces of foam that that held his feet and gave support to his withered
legs. The disease made his hands basically useless as more time passed. He was able to
write slowly by holding a pen, but he couldnt raise his arms much higher than his chest.
He was unable to wash his hands, or even pull up or down his pants when he made his
way to the bathroom. As time passed he was unable to breathe as he did before, and with
each week his breathing slowed down more and more. He demonstrates that to Mitch
Albom the technique his doctor showed him to test his lungs. In the test Morrie
demonstrates that he can hold his breath only for an eighteen count, as opposed where he
was able to do the same earlier for a twenty-three count. He explains that as that the
process of disease conquering every part of his body. His eating habits are becoming less
and less possible overtime as he is unable to eat anything he wants anymore and basically
eats only soft foods. Towards the end of the book when Mitch Albom comes to visit
Morrie for one of the last times, he enters his bedroom and wants to talk to him, and
Morrie barely opens his mouth to try to speak and what basically happens is he mumbles
and groans and gets tired from just trying to speak.
However, if trying to overlook all of that, Morrie seems to be relatively healthy
based on his mind. He is very optimistic about the remainder of his life in the book. This
is portrayed numerous times in the book. He tells Mitch that he has had a good and
fulfilling life and that the most important thing now is to face the truth and be positive
about what is left of it. He explains that he is not afraid of dying because its a natural
process that happens to everyone. He also refers to enjoying being pampered constantly
and helped out in the restroom because it makes him feel like he is a little child all over
again. His goal is to try and teach people around him about death as a “living example”
the way he puts it. Another example of him being optimistic about the future is that he
kept lots of newspapers around his room that he read daily to keep up with the world
around him. Any other person who knew that they were dying would never do that. As
opposed to Morrie who seems to live out his last months as nothing is wrong with his life.
He once even told someone while in his sixties that he is going to be the healthiest man to
ever live on the earth. This is certainly the most extraordinary way that I heard someone
refer to their last days like that. He refused to be depressed. He was full of ideas. He
wrote out his thoughts, and came up with philosophies about living in the death of a
shadow.
Spirituality is a big reason why I believe that Morrie is healthy. During the fourth
Tuesday, Morrie explains to Mitch the way he is preparing to die. He refers to what the
Buddhists do, which is to have an imaginary little