Aphorisms in Tuesdays with Morrie Essay

Accept what you are able to do and what you are non able to do. (Albom 18) is the first and one of the most major aphorisms in Tuesdays with Morrie. I believe Morrie is speaking more or less recognizing your strengths, and not stress so much on your weaknesses. He means, as he said, to accept your limitations. We are all touched by this aphorism everyday. We have limitations, and a lot of times we get so focused on our weaknesses we dont take advantage of our strengths., and deplete time simply trying to improve upon those weaknesses. For example, Im not athletic. For a while, I focused on that and I let it upset me. I would set myself up to fail focusing on that, and wasting on my time trying to get rid of that lack of skill. Instead, I should have been focusing on non-athletic things that I am good at, and toning those skills, enjoying using them, rather than focusing on what Im not able to do.The culture we have does not make people feel good intimately themselves. And you ha ve to be strong enough to say if the culture doesnt work, dont acquire it. (Albom 42) Here Morrie is speaking ab fall out the views culture and media release to us, how it preys upon us. Much of the social media is put out there to prey upon our insecurities, or create them to earn our business. We believe this everywhere. Beautiful celebrities are plastered all over the tv, movies, and print, which makes us think that we arent attractive if we dont look like them. You can go out how prominent this is simply looking at a magazine cover. The titles for the articles, The 10 Easy Workout Tips to Get You Slim Fast, How to get Perfect splutter Now, imply that you arent slim, with perfect skin, know how to get a boyfriend, be popular, etc. As Morrie said, you have to see above those and manage to stoppage confident even when the media is pressuring you not to feel that way. So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when theyre officious doing th ings they think are of the essence(p).This is because theyre 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 finding and meaning. (Albom 43). In this quote Morrie speaks of the truly important things in life. He was telling this specifically to Mitch because it affected Mitch personally. He spent all his time focused on his work, and living wealthily that he pushed away his family, friends, Morrie, and his whole old way of life altogether. Like Mitch, this applies to many people, and me, too. We spend their whole life putting work, or money, or a certain person or thing as their number one. When this happens we think were happy, that were well-to-do, and that were doing things we see as important, when were really wasting life. Morrie means you should spend your time doing the things that are best for you and everyone else that you truly enjoy. They should devote themselves to the best life possible, and thinking, if we died today, would we be truly satisfied with our life? We should be.In the quote, Dont let go too soon, still dont hang on too long. (Albom 162) , Morrie is speaking about his oncoming death, and experiences altogether. Hes saying that when we have very important experiences, we should take the time to experience them, and feel the emotions not to move on immediately, but not too move on so fast that it keeps us from living our lives. Ive lived this aphorism in the experience of losing friendships, and also living people, and not moving on quite as well as I should have. All you want to do is live in memories, and you cant stop your regrets. Instead of feeling the emotions while youre still living your life, you simply dwell in the depression and sadness. Morrie wants to prevent that from happening. When Morrie asks, What if today were my last day on earth? (Albom 64) hes speaking about the elephant in the room with him everyday, which was that he was getting closer to his death everyday.Hes talking about thinking of everyday as your last day. If you died today, what would you regret not doing? Would you wish you had called your dad and apologized for what happened all those years ago? Would you wish you had finally told someone how you tangle? Wish you had fulfilled your lifelong dream of skydiving? Hes talking about how, even thought it was most literal for him, any of us could die anytime, any day. We should live without regrets now, because you never know. You see this throughout real life. People die everyday, and many times when people find out they only have a certain amount of time left to live, they go out and do everything theyve endlessly meant to do. The problem is, we dont always know our time, and Morrie was saying to live the way you mean to, living life not leaving things unsaid or undone.