A Beautiful Story
Yesterday, I came across a book.
I had decided to take the evening off and relax. A strange urge suddenly came over me to visit the bookstore, and after carefully perusing each floor of the megaplex they call a bookstore, I was about to leave empty-handed, slightly disappointed and perhaps a bit confused as to why I felt so compelled to come.
I decided to make one more round of the English Books section, hanging onto the hope that perhaps this quiet little adventure wasn't quite over.
And that's when I came across the book.
At first I was slightly skeptical. I recognized the author-- Mitch Albom. He's a famous sports writer who writes for the Detroit Free Press. One of my best friends in college is from Detroit, and the sports nuts we were back then, I was inevitably introduced to some of his works over our four years together at college.
The next thing that caught my attention were the words 'life's greatest lesson.' I must admit that I am a sucker for anything that professes to teach you the important lessons in life.
I made a cursory check over the preface and back-cover reviews and decided to buy it. After all, it was an international bestseller. How bad could it be?
I went to Starbucks, got a drink, and started reading. Before I knew it, three hours had gone by.
The book is called Tuesdays with Morrie .
Now that I am familiar with the book, I wonder why I didn't know about it until now.
Here are some quotes from the book that were memorable to me:
-----------------The culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves. And you have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn't work, don't buy it.
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The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.
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You have to find what's good and true and beautiful in your life as it is now.
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I don't go around naked. I don't run through red lights. 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.
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The problem, Mitch, is that we don't believe we are as much alike as we are.
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In the beginning, when we are infants, we need others. And at the end of life, you need others to survive, right? But here's the secret: in between, we need others as well.
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A little wave, bobbing along in the ocean, having a grand old time. He's enjoying the wind and the fresh air-- until he notices the other waves in front of him, crashing against the shore.
'My God, this is terrible,' the wave says.
Then along comes another wave. It sees the first wave, looking grim, and it says to him, 'Why do you look so sad?'
The first wave says, 'You don't understand! We're all going to crash! All of us waves are going to be nothing! Isn't it terrible?'
The second waves says, 'No you don't understand. You're not a wave, you're part of the ocean.'
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