Quote 21
I wanted that clarity. Every confused and tortured soul I knew wanted that clarity.
"Ask me anything," Morrie always said.
So I wrote this list:
Death/ Fear/ Aging/ Greed/ Marriage/ Family/ Society/ Forgiveness/ A meaningful life (10.31-34)
Mitch makes a list of all the things about life that he wants clarified. These are things that he wishes he could understand in order to understand his own existence. Part of human existence is to question things; we're able to understand so much, but so much is left unanswered.
Quote 22
"Why not? Like I said, no one really believes they're going to die."
But everyone knows someone who has died, I said. Why is it so hard to think about dying?
"Because," Morrie continued, "most of us all walk around as if we're sleepwalking. We really don't experience the world fully, because we're half asleep, doing things we automatically thing we have to do." (13.21-23)
How ironic is it that although we exist as bundles of endless possibility, we walk around "half asleep"? Our experience is limited because we're lazy, doing only the things we have to do, instead of things that we could do.
Quote 23
"Yes. I look out that window every day. I notice the change in the trees, how strong the wind is blowing. It's as if I can see time actually passing through that windowpane. Because I know my time is almost done, I am drawn to nature like I'm seeing it for the first time." (13.43)
Because he's dying, Morrie can slow down and participate in the world around him. Nature is a beauty that is sometimes unappreciated because we're so used to it. If we try to make ourselves aware like Morrie, though, we can feel the wind almost for the first time.
Quote 24
"I know you think this is just about dying," he said, but it's like I keep telling you. When you learn how to die, you learn how to live." (15.37)
Here are some of Morrie's most famous words. He's been able to live a meaningful life with his illness, precisely because he knows that his days are numbered. It's like we said: The theme of living and existing is completely tied up with the theme of dying.
Quote 25
"But it's hard to explain, Mitch. Now that I'm suffering, I feel closer to people who suffer than I ever did before. The other night, on TV, I saw people in Bosnia running across the street, getting fired upon, killed, innocent victims… and I just started to cry. I feel their anguish as if it were my own." (8.22)
Morrie's heart is so filled with compassion that he is moved by things that he sees on the nightly news—things that happen to people somewhere else in the world. He's not saying that he understands exactly what they're going through, but he says that since he knows what suffering is firsthand, his heart goes out to them.
Quote 26
There was a momentary silence, and I'm not ever sure why I offered, but Morrie looked at Connie and said, "Can you show him how to do it?" (9.21)
Mitch, who at first felt uncomfortable even visiting Morrie, is now offering to help the nurse take care of him. He's learning compassion simply by being around somebody who is suffering, and now he wants to take a part in helping his friend, Morrie.
Quote 27
"Here's what I sent her back," Morrie told Koppel, perching his glasses gingerly on his nose and ears. "'Dear Barbara… I was very moved by your letter. I feel the work you have done with the children who have lost a parent is very important. I also lost a parent at an early age…'" (11.16)
One of the things that make Morrie so compassionate during these last months is that he's constantly reaching out to strangers who are suffering. Hundreds of people are sending in letters asking for responses to their suffering, asking to commiserate with Morrie's own suffering.
Quote 28
"In business, people negotiate to win. They negotiate to get what they want. Maybe you're too used to that. Love is different. Love is when you are as concerned about someone else's situation as you are about your own." (24.58)
Morrie defines compassion as caring about other people just as much as you'd care about yourself. This is totally different from doing business, where you try to get the most out of the situation for your own benefit. The sad thing is that most people live their lives like they're working at a job, trying to gain something from others rather than giving selflessly.