BookCrossing: Tuesdays with Morrie

One afternoon in July 2012 I executed the best themed release of all time. The idea came to me during a moment of clarity (those usually occur as I sit cross legged, eating a grilled cheese sandwich) and it took a great deal of planning to pull off. I am immensely proud and have been riding a delicious wave of self-satisfaction ever since. You must now be very curious, and I don't blame you - this buildup of anticipation must be torturous. With your well-being in mind, here's the juice: I released Tuesdays with Morrie on a Tuesday! Yes yes, I know I know. Please calm yourselves and sit back down. We don't have all day.

It was a beautiful summer's day and my walk through the park was very calming, except for the small fact that my heart was beating exceptionally fast, for I knew even then that I was about to perform an extraordinary act that would no doubt alter the course of the universe. Sorry, butterflies. I saw an empty bench ahead of me and I knew what needed to be done. After a slight hesitation (could I really go through with this? am I the right person for this role?) I placed the book on the bench and breathed a huge sigh of relief. What was done was done.

A journal entry came in later that same day:

Just picked up this book on a local park bench while I was out walking with my 11 month old son. Look forward to reading it and sending it on its way!

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

A very easy book to read, with many nuggets scattered throughout - some grand nuggets, some less so. Morrie has wise things to say about how we should live our lives, but if collected and sold without decoration, I feel the aphorisms wouldn't be as valued. What makes them valuable here is the story behind them. The story Albom has told about reconnecting with a former professor is one that readers can take great joy in as they remember past professors of their own.

Tuesdays with Morrie on BookCrossing.

More is good. More is good.

"We've got a form of brainwashing going on in our country," Morrie sighed. "Do you know how they brainwash people? They repeat something over and over. And that's what we do in this country. Owning things is good. More money is good. More property is good. More commercialism is good. More is good. More is good. We repeat it - and have it repeated it to us - over and over until nobody bothers to even think otherwise. The average person is so fogged up by all this, he has no perspective on what's really important anymore."

-- Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

we're half-asleep

"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 think we have to do."

And facing death changes all that?

"Oh, yes. You strip away all that stuff and you focus on the essentials. When you realize you are going to die, you see everything much differently."

He sighed. "Learn how to die, and you learn how to live."

-- Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

The reason I chose this passage to share as an excerpt is that I like the message.  Now it's time for me to go outside and enjoy the sun by going for a run with the doggies.