Tuesdays With Morrie

In Tuesdays with Morrie, Mitch quickly became the portrayal of a typical American. He was so focused on deadlines and time management that he rarely stopped to think and enjoy himself. This focus on deadlines stems from his, like many other's, obsession with success. He was so focused on having a "full" and "complete" life, thinking the way to do this was by creating a family, making lots of money, and having a successful/steady job. Even his Tuesdays spent with Morrie began for work, recording his stories and theories for his writing. Another folkway of the American culture that Mitch holds true is to not talk about death. Whenever the subject would come up, Mitch would change subjects, and if it didn't, he avoided it. 

Morrie, on the other hand, consistently breaks these folkways. He openly speaks about death and what is happening to him, often relaying his belief that "we must love each other or die". Morrie also teaches Mitch something that many Americans should learn, to just stop and appreciate. He wants Mitch to just stop, to take a break from all of his deadlines and requirements, and to look around and see the beauty in the world and appreciate the life he was given. Something that I really like that Morrie said was that "we always need others to survive. When we die, are born, and especially in between, however our culture looks down on dependency". I greatly agree with this statement. We all seek to become "independent". Personally, I have been looking forward to going away from home, far away, to college since I was probably about 9 years old. I love traveling alone and being able to get around without needing my mom to chauffeur me. Even though I enjoy this independence, I am still greatly aware of my dependence on others. I am connected to people and dependent on them for everything I do and receive. The food I buy from grocery stores, the gas I put in my car, the books I read, the clothes I wear, everything I use is made or grown or transported by someone else. I depend on my teachers, my parents, my friends, my employers, etc. This is not only me, but everyone in the WORLD, yet everyone glorifies this idea of independence, seeing it as a sign of success. It is like what Morrie says, "we must love each other or die". If we choose to not love each other, this dependency that keeps us alive will fail us, because we will refuse to accept this dependency or allow others to depend on us.