*sigh*

Morrie Schwartz's dancing days before ALS

I finished 'Tuesday's With Morrie'. The last chapter I found myself wiping away tears like I was right there in the room. I don't think I'm ruining any 'surprise' ending for anyone- anyone paying attention at the start of the book knows what the outcome will be. Morrie had such great words, I wanted to share a few more before moving on.

On the topic of aging:

"All this emphasis on youth- I don't buy it, " he (Morrie) said.
"Listen, I know what a misery being young can be, so don't tell me it's so great. All these kids who came to me with their struggles, their strife, their feelings of inadequacy, their sense that life was miserable, so bad they wanted to kill themselves...
"And, in addition to all the miseries, the young are not wise. They have very little understanding about life. Who wants to live every day when you don't know what's going on? When people are manipulating you, telling you to buy this perfume and you'll be beautiful, or this pair of jeans and you'll be sexy- and you belive them! It's such nonsense."

Weren't you ever afraid to grow old, I asked?

"Mitch, I embrace aging."

Embrace it?

"It's very simple. As you grow, you learn more. If you stayed at twenty-two, you'd always be as ignorant as you were at twenty-two. Aging is not just decay, you know. It's growth. It's more than the negative that you're going to die, it's also the positive that you understand you're going to die, and that you live a better life because of it."

Yes, I said, but if aging were so valuable, why do people always say, "Oh, if I were young again." You never hear people say, "I wish I were sixty-five."

He smiled. "You know what that reflects? Unsatisfied lives. Unfulfilled lives. Lives that haven't found meaning. Because if you've found meaning in your life, you don't want to go back. You want to go forward. You want to see more and do more. You can't wait until sixty-five.
"Listen. You should know something. All younger people should know something. If you're always battling against getting older, you're always going to be unhappy, because it will happen anyhow."

Powerful words, aren't they. While reading this book, I couldn't help but think about my 'teacher', Marian Olson, who passed away earlier this year. Sometimes it was frustrating going to visit her, because I knew she would challenge me- she always challenged me. But to this day, I still remember words of wisdom she poured over me. (It's because of her that I am now almost debt free, student loans and all- she taught me the importance of getting rid of it as soon as possible) I always knew she was praying for me, too. I'm pretty sure she's still praying for me, even from Heaven, that I'll make right choices.

If you haven't already, I hope you'll consider reading 'Tuesday's With Morrie '(all 3 of you). I promise it will impact the way you view life and aging.