Love each other or perish.
This book is written by Mitch Albom, who is also the author of The Five People You Meet in Heaven. It recorded fourteen Tuesdays he spent with his old professor Morrie Schwartz who had ASL at his seventy-eight. They talked about death, love, family, marriage, forgiveness etc.
I’d like to share several sentences and paragraphs in this book, and some of my thoughts perhaps.
The culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves. And you have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn’t work, don’t buy it.
That most people are doing it doesn’t mean it’s right, and you should do it. If there’re problems with the culture or circumstance, don’t buy it. Create your own.
So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they’re busy doing things they think are important. This is because they’re chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.
How can you ever be prepared to die?
Do what the Buddhists do. Every day, have a little bird on your shoulder that asks, ‘Is today the day? Am I ready? Am I doing all I need to do? Am I being the person I want to be?’
There is no experience like having children. That’s all. There is no substitute for it. You cannot do it with a friend. You cannot do it with a lover. If you want the experience of having complete responsibility for another human being, and to learn how to love and bond in the deepest way, then you should have children.
I always know that having children is taking responsibility. Such a big one that I imagine I cannot take. After all, life is difficult. Why bother? Especially under the circumstance that you haven’t figured it out for yourself.
You need food, you want a chocolate sundae. You have to be honest with yourself. You don’t need the latest sports car, you don’t need the biggest house.
The truth is, you don’t get satisfaction from those things. You know what really gives you satisfaction?
Offering others what you have to give.
And which are the important questions?
As I see it, they have to do with love, responsibility, spirituality, awareness. And if I were healthy today, those would still be my issues. They should have been all along.
Morrie told us that once we learn how to die, we learn how to live. Like, we will not be obssessed with things unimportant, hold grudge against someone, but it’s hard to actually do it. Maybe we really should face it, talk about it, and learn more about it, cuz eventually, we all die.