Tuesday's with Morrie

I agreed with many of the general principles aligned in Tuesday’s with Morrie, however I disagreed with some of the philosophy behind them. For starters, I agree with Morrie when he says you can’t know how to live unless you know how to die. Life is too short for regret, so, it’s overstated, but I do believe that you should live each day as if it’s your last. However, whenever I think about this, I always laugh because I never really hold this to heart. If this were the case, then I’d probably go to Vegas, or even more likely, spend my “last day” with my family. It seems to be an impossible request to be honest. So much of our life is spent on working to better our future that we don’t live day-to-day. I’m going to college for four years so that I can go to med school for another four years so that I can get a residency for at least three years so that I can get a job for God knows how many years and earn money, live happily, and retire when I’ll actually get time to live when I’m sixty. Presumably I will like what I’m going to be doing along the way, but it’s still a ridiculous thought. Part of this is just the logistics of the society in which we live. To survive you need food and to get food you need money. However, the greater theme of materialism that is so clearly presented can not be ignored. Few can argue with the fact that our society is incredibly materialistic in nature. Yet the book takes it a step further when Morrie argues that human beings are so wound up with their material possessions that they forget that which is truly valuable: love. After some reflection, I have realized that I pretty much agree with this statement. Don’t get me wrong, I have my dream car as vivid in my mind as much as the next guy (Aston Martin DB 9 in case you were wondering), but at the end of the day it’s just another possession. People’s infatuation with material wealth is not so much a love that comes from acquiring the objects, but lust. Wealth provides an entirely different happiness from that of human interaction. It is superficial and lonesome, whereas relationships, by definition, involve a connection with another person that is often more complex and meaningful than that of a relationship with an object. Thinking mathematically, interacting with another person is like adding another variable to an equation, while interacting with an object is simply adding a constant. Change occurs in accordance with one another to create meaning, or a value, and the variety of change increases tremendously. The effect of a possession is understood. It will change you by ‘X’ amount. The effect of human interaction, however, is never really predictable for our complexity is too great. Every relationship is inherently unique since it’s defined by everything from past experience to present situation to future understanding. If anything, it’s much more fun to get to know another human being than an inanimate object. Unraveling the complexities behind them, let alone the interaction and discussions presented, is infinitely more rewarding.