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Friday, November 04, 2005
tuesdays with morrie i've just read this incredibly touching, wonderfully insightful book. i know, i'm a little late on the bandwagon. it was like international bestseller in 1997 or something like that. it's taken me 8 years to pick up this tiny little book and even then, it was only because i really had nothing else to do. from someone who generally only reads fantasy books, it is definitely a core-shocking change. i spent something like 90 minutes of shameless quiet sobbing throughout the entire book. i cannot even begin to relate how important the issues discussed in the book are.  for those who don't know it, *tuesdays with morrie* is written by mitch albom. it is a true story (already sad) about a student who had an incredibly intimate relationship with his sociology professor. and when i say intimate, i'm not talking sexual okay. this entire post will have NO sexual references whatsoever... maybe. sixteen years after he graduates and loses touch, he accidentally discovers that the professor, morrie, has been diagnosed with a terminal disease - ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) "a brutal, unforgiving illness of the neurological system" - and goes back to visit him. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), sometimes called Lou Gehrig's disease, is a rapidly progressive, invariably fatal neurological disease that attacks the nerve cells (neurons) responsible for controlling voluntary muscles. In ALS, both the upper motor neurons and the lower motor neurons degenerate or die, ceasing to send messages to muscles. Unable to function, the muscles gradually weaken, waste away (atrophy), and twitch (fasciculations) . Eventually, the ability of the brain to start and control voluntary movement is lost. with the few months left that morrie has, he gets mitch to write his final thesis - the journey to death. the book has made a profound impact on me and i am in awe of how much mental strength the professor has. i honestly wish i had a teacher like that. a real teacher. a teacher of not maths, geography, science, business, watever else... but a real teacher of life. in this day, i think we underrate wisdom. we associate wisdom with old men with pointy hats dressed in a starry robe and a beard long enough to sweep the floor. lately i've been developing a fear of getting old. i find it hard not to assume that old people are empty decaying shells, minds withering along with it. i find that in our society, we tend to almost ignore old people and live on as if they do not exist. how often have you looked at an old person and simply looked away? how often have you really looked at their wrinkles and wondered what story lay behind each wrinkle? how often do we see ads featuring old people unless it's about health cover or old folk's homes? how often do you look forward to spending time with an old person as if it were not a chore? it's sad but true that many of us harbour these feelings/thoughts towards the elderly. i admit that i do and i'm sure that many others do as well. unless i'm completely delusional which is quite possible. morrie is a classic example of a human being we should all aim to become. throughout the deterioration of his physical, he finds ways to still live a full life through spiritual realisation of what values are truly important in life. it may all sound very boring and you're probably thinking, "oh not another one of those heart-wrenching true story books" which is probably more for female readers. but i think everyone should have a read of it because it's really so much more than that. an hour and a half of reading it and i looked like a depressed whore, with make-up streaking and puffy red eyes. probably not the best way to promote a book but hey, i'm just being honest. now go fucking read it. Alysia S. procrastinated again @ 7:59 pm 
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2 random retorts
dan: well... wanna prescribe me antipsychotic drugs too please?
xiaoyang: here's your two hundred cents. don't spend it all at once.
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