Tuesdays with Morrie Paragraphs

Materialism

“I can tell you, as I’m sitting here dying, when you most need it, neither money nor power will give you the feeling you’re looking for, no matter how much of them you have.” (Pg. 125)

But giving to other people is what makes me feel alive. Not my car or my house.” (Pg. 128)

Morrie Schwartz provides numerous amounts of wisdom regarding materialism in Tuesdays with Morrie. Two of his quotes –– “I can tell you, as I’m sitting here dying, when you most need it, neither money nor power will give you the feeling you’re looking for, no matter how much of them you have,” (Pg. 125) and “But giving to other people is what makes me feel alive. Not my car or my house,” (Pg. 128) –– discuss his theories on this topic significantly. Both of these quotes give off the obvious idea that loathing over material objects and or replacing them with love will never give you a satisfying life. The first quote from Morrie relates the end of his life. He states that as he is dying, he knows in his mind that neither the amount of money he has nor the level of power he holds in the economy are the most important things to think about. Morrie fills the final moments of his life with his loved ones, giving to others, and just investing in people’s lives. Morrie’s second quote talks about what you should replace the want for material items with. He tells Mitch that giving to others is what gives him satisfaction and happiness. Morrie gave advice, wisdom, company, and most importantly, love to everyone he talked to. The joy that it gave others filled Morrie with more joy than any new car or nice suit could have given him. To continue on, the topic of materialism takes place in the sport of cheerleading. On the Norwin high school sideline cheerleading team, pins in the shape of a megaphone are given out during practices and games to the cheerleader(s) that did the best that day. Whoever ends up with the most pins by the end of the season is rewarded with a $50 Visa gift card. This might seem very appealing to most people, but this should never be anyone’s main focus during cheerleading. If you are constantly focused on trying to be better than everyone else just to get a pin, then you will take all of the fun out of cheerleading. You have to remember to have fun with all of your friends while doing the sport that you love. This will give you so much more happiness than the $50 gift card would. The gift card only lasts for a limited time, but memories made when doing all of the aspects of cheerleading that you love with your best friends on the team will stay joyful in your mind forever.

New Friendship

“You live on––in the hearts of everyone you have touched and nurtured while you were here.” (Pg. 174)

""In the beginning of life, when we were infants, we need others to survive, right? And at the end of life, when you get like me, you need others to survive, right? But here's the secret: in between, we need others as well.” (Pg. 157)

In the book Tuesdays With Morrie, Morrie talks to Mitch about the concept of new friendships that are created in our lives. He makes two quotes in the story that tie along well with this concept as well. First, Morrie says to Mitch, “You live on––in the hearts of everyone you have touched and nurtured while you were here,” (Pg. 174). Morrie’s message clearly goes with remembrance after death. He knows that no one will truly be forgotten if they are involved in other’s lives, even in the smallest way. Morrie was only Mitch’s college professor, but now Mitch will never forget Morrie even after he is long gone. This makes sense with creating new friendships. You can live your entire life alone with no one to talk to, but then make a close friend near the end of your life that you talk to. Even though you may think that your life would not be remembered by anyone, that close friend toward the end will always remember and cherish your moments together. Anyone that you have given advice to, cared for, or even just spent time with for a little bit will remember you because you earned a place in their heart. Even if these people were introduced to you very late and were new. Next, Morrie explains, “In the beginning of life, when we were infants, we need others to survive, right? And at the end of life, when you get like me, you need others to survive, right? But here's the secret: in between, we need others as well,” (Pg. 157). This also goes along substantially with new friendships because it explains how important it is to have people you love at every moment in your life. Everyone needs to be cared for as an infant, everyone needs help from others when moving from the teenage years to adulthood, and everyone needs a buddy that they can count on when going through family issues, money problems, career and home life discrepancies, or anything else. However, some people that you have known for your entire life might not be available or fit to help you in these situations. You have to be able to make new friends along the way that you know will always be there for you. The most important thing is not how long you have known the person, but rather how much they are willing to care for you. The concept of new friendships relates well to new teams that you join throughout the sport of cheerleading. I have been on at least 8 different teams of cheerleaders throughout my 7 years of cheerleading. Each one I have loved and enjoyed even more than the last. However, the friends that I made (or that anyone else made) on my very first team have either not continued to cheer or have drifted apart from me. Even though I made very close memories with these people, I have had to create new friendships for every new team that I joined. All of these new friendships are extremely important because they help bring all of the fun into this sport. During this 9th grade year alone, I have made an entirely new group of cheer friends from the high school team that I love spending time with. Without making new friends, you will never remember how much fun you had on the team, just like in real life. You will never remember how much fun you had in life without making new friends to help you along the way.

Old Friendships

“Ted, we've had thirty-five years of friendship. You don't need speech or hearing to feel that."" (Pg. 71) “Don’t let go too soon, but don’t hold on too long.” (Pg. 162)

Throughout the novel Tuesdays With Morrie, Morrie Schwartz discusses the meaning of old friendships. Two quotes that he made shine light on both the importance and downfall of these friendships. First off, the quote, “Ted, we've had thirty-five years of friendship. You don't need speech or hearing to feel that,"" (Pg. 71) talks about the benefits of these old friendships. Anytime you are friends with someone for a long time, you form a unique connection with them. You can tell when they are truly happy or sad, and exactly what to do in those situations. When you are friends with someone for many years, you always know that you can count on that person to talk to, and this gives you all the comfort that you need in tough situations. Next, the quote, “Don’t let go too soon, but don’t hold on too long,” (Pg. 162) talks about both the importance and the negative aspects of old friendships. Morrie stated that you should not let go too soon for the obvious reasons. Your friends will always be there to care for you and they will give you happiness when you need it in life. However, you have to be able to let go in case they are holding you back. Sometimes the people that you have been with for a long time can make you think that a decision will ruin either your life or your friendship. You have to be able to realize this and know that you can move on from that friend if they are holding you back from a better life. You cannot hold onto someone too long if they are causing you any type of pain. Otherwise, your life and possibly others in it will suffer. To continue, old coaches and old teams in cheerleading relate significantly to old friendships in life. Coaches and teams that you have in prior years of cheerleading are extremely important and special. They teach you the basics whenever you do not know anything so that you can grow and do so many more skills in stunting, tumbling, etc. Although they help you progress, you have to know when to move on. Moving up from easier teams in order to learn more is just like moving on from old friends who are holding you back from large opportunities in life. You have to know when you are ready to advance your learning, even if it means moving on from people that are important to you.

Aging

“As you grow you learn more. If you stayed at twenty-two, you’d always be as ignorant as you were at twenty-two.” (Pg. 118) “If you’re always battling against getting older, you’re always going to be unhappy, because it will happen anyhow.” (Pg. 119)

The topic of aging was discussed numerous times by Morrie Schwartz in Tuesdays With Morrie. Morrie says two important quotes that discuss this topic profoundly. To start, Morrie says to Mitch, “As you grow you learn more. If you stayed at twenty-two, you’d always be as ignorant as you were at twenty-two,” (Pg. 118). To explain, with age brings knowledge. Everyone looks back at when they were younger and laughs at how much more they have learned over the years, whether it was through experience or other teachers. Staying at one age will never benefit you, even if you think it is the greatest year of your life. Next up, Morrie explains, “If you’re always battling against getting older, you’re always going to be unhappy, because it will happen anyhow,” (Pg. 119). Morrie’s message through this quote is about positivity throughout life. Everyone grows older, it’s a part of nature. The key to accepting this is knowing the beneficial outcomes of growing older. You obviously gain more knowledge and experience, but you also gain new relationships with people. All of these aspects create happiness, so you will not achieve happiness if you are constantly sad about aging. Finally, in cheerleading, the tumbling relates to aging for several reasons. Just like how aging in life gives you more knowledge over time, aging in tumbling gives you more skills and better technique. With more time and practice, everyone has better tumbling than they did when they first started cheerleading. It is all about getting better over time. Similar to Morrie’s second quote, if you are not willing to try to progress with your tumbling by practicing over time, then you will never gain happiness from earning more skills or perfecting your current ones. As they say, practice makes perfect, but practice takes time and patience is key. It will benefit you in the end.

Trust

“But the poor kids today, either they’re too selfish to take part in a real loving relationship, or they rush into marriage and then six months later, they get divorced.” (Pg. 148)

“If you can’t talk openly about what goes on between you, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble.” (Pg. 149)

In the novel Tuesdays With Morrie, trust between others in life is talked about in various ways, especially in two quotes that Morrie Schwartz makes about marriage. First up, when Morrie talks about Mitch’s generation, he says, “But the poor kids today, either they’re too selfish to take part in a real loving relationship, or they rush into marriage and then six months later, they get divorced,” (Pg. 148). When talking about making relationships with other people, you always have to consider your trust with them. Morrie made this clear with the topic of marriage. The people in Mitch’s generation were so forced to get married to another person that they never took the time to stop and make sure that they trusted the other person in every good or bad situation. Thus, ending in a divorce. Next, the quote “If you can’t talk openly about what goes on between you, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble,” (Pg. 149) discusses some specifics about trust. When you talk to someone about personal topics or issues, you obviously have to trust them in some way. Otherwise, you would not want that person to know your weak point or think of you poorly. The fact that Morrie stated marks a clear sign of trust. You would automatically know if you trusted someone if you knew you could talk to them about your relationship together. If you feared that they would blame you or even broke off the relationship instead of hearing your opinion and trying to work together to solve it, then you obviously do not trust that person. Finally, the trust in real life relationships goes along with stunting in cheerleading, especially between the flyers and the people underneath. You don’t have to know all of the terminology and skills in stunting to know that there has to be a trust between the person in the air and the people putting the girl in the air. If the flyer does not trust the people underneath her, then she will not be willing to try new and harder stunts because of the fear that they will either not do it right or not catch her if she falls. If the bases and back do not trust the flyer, then they will not want to put her in the air based on the fear that she will purposefully fall and possibly hurt the people underneath. You have to make a bond between everyone in the stunt to make sure that everyone knows their part. Everyone has to know what to do and what not to do to make sure nobody physically gets hurt. In real life, you have to trust others in a relationship to make sure nobody gets mentally hurt.

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