..and then Morrie told me a secret!

Yesterday I read 'Tuesdays with Morrie' and after a very..very long time, a book moved to the extent that there were silent tears streaming down my cheeks. After a long time indeed.

I feel sad that i never had a teacher like Morrie in my life. I  always hoped to meet someone so inspiring, always was on a look out . I tried my best to know my teachers, to talk beyond the classrooms, tried my best to squeeze out all their wisdom, their ideas and opinions but none of them could become a Morrie to me.
Something was always lacking.

Yesterday, while reading the book, while on one hand the grief of absence of such a figure grew, on the other i simply could not fathom the will of a human being. where does it begin and where does it end? what is the limit? actually, is there a limit at all?

I loved the aphorisms Morrie came up with.
~ Love each other or perish

~ Dying is only one thing to be sad over. Living unhappily is something else.

..and there are so many more. His conclusion and teaching, of someone walking towards his mortal end and assessing his journey, was 'LOVE - give and  be open to it.' only therein lies, true happiness. This was not something new but perhaps, the most repeated statements and the most taken-for-granted in our world so busy accruing money and fame, running away from the most basic to something grand and larger than life.

I particularly loved this one part where Albom (the author) asks Morrie that if he was granted a healthy body for a day, what would he do? what would you do, if you were ailing and had a day with a good health? I would fly off to some country on my 'to-visit' list with my family, my best friends and spend a day with them doing anything.

But Morrie did not select any exotic destination or celebrity moments, he instead chose a simple breakfast, a lunch with family and friends at his house, a swim, a dance, a chat, a conversation, a discussion and dinner with his people again, right there in the city in which he had lived for most of his life. He could see the specialness in the ordinary. Most of us dont. I dont and probably, that is the reason why all of us are so dissatisfied. always craving for something more but we dont know what.

I also refreshed another important learning: Man is a social animal. I was taught this in my primary school but somewhere with my experiences with people made me dislike the species. my own species. i had carefully picked my set of people and conveniently declared the rest as greedy, selfish, immature, foolish etc. But Morrie told me a secret yesterday. He said,"You need people to help you with your stuff when you're born and then when you're old and frail and most people know this. But i'll tell you a secret that you need people even in the between". There it is! So simple! and key to happiness.

How did i ever imagine happiness on my isolated island? Here, I am also reminded of this movie 'Into the Wild' and the crux of the movie was "Happiness is real only when it is shared". Again said by someone on his deathbed and who was on a mission to find what is life and what is happiness.

I remember as a kid, i always only saw the good in everybody i came across. It was easy. It was right there, so clear. Its easy to love. real easy to give. Then, i grew up! and complexities grew. i was told and unfortunately, i started believing that world is a bad, bad place. people are mean and selfish, so BEWARE!

So i was always on my guard, cautious and unwilling to open myself up to anyone. Scared that they might read me, know me and abuse my existence. After reading the book, i mourn over the time i have lost and wonderful people i have missed because of this belief.

This was probably one of the biggest conflict i had. What is this about the world and people? What do they want and why? I realized i was out of focus, the question is what is this world and what is me? what do i want and why? and i have these answers!

He makes an excellent point when he says:


 Life is a series of back and forth(Tension of the opposites). You want to do one thing, but you are bound to do something else. Something hurts you, yet you know it shouldn't. You take certain things for granted, even when you know you should never take anything for granted...

Simple to understand, isnt it?