Final Thoughts

Reflections on Tuesdays With Morrie (pp. 130-Final)

            “Morrie believed in the inherent good of people.  But he also saw what they could become.

            “‘People are only mean when they’re threatened,’ he said later that day, ‘and that’s what our culture does.  That’s what our economy does.  Even people who have jobs in our economy are threatened, because they worry about losing them.  And when you get threatened, you start looking out only for yourself.  You start making money a god.  It is all part of this culture.’

            “’…Here’s what I mean by building your own little subculture,’ Morrie said.  ‘I don’t mean you disregard every rule of your community…The little things I can obey.  But the big things—how we think, what we value—those you must choose yourself.  You can’t let anyone—or any society determine those for you.’” (p. 154-155).

            Each individual, born on this planet, has been brainwashed as Morrie stated earlier, into believing the assumptions and standards of society.  We accept them as if some universal law.  In many instances, this is good and right.  However, often, our assumptions—based upon what our society is telling us—are problematically wrong.  The assertion that we must fit the mold of culture strips us of individuality.  According to society, we must be sexy, we must be rich, and we must be more so than others.  Society claims if we fail in any of these categories, then our life is in vain.  This idea is a falsification of magnitudinous proportions.  If these are the standards for success, then many die unhappy and their life is a disappointment.

            The sooner we quit measuring ourselves with the distorted measuring stick of the world, we will be more content with our life and see things that matter for what they truly are. 

            The development of a subculture, as Morrie stated, is essential to surviving among the pugnacious people of the world.   This entails treating others respectfully—society fails to.  This entails helping others—society often fails to.  “If we saw each other as more alike, we might be very eager to join in one big human family in this world, and to care about that family the way we care about our own” (p. 156).  We would be more caring, more compassionate, more forgiving, more understanding, and more prepared to die.