Table of Contents
Litfels Greatest Lesson
Morrie Schwartz was an intelligent, interesting senior citizen that touched a lot ot people, especialy Mitch Albom. Morie passed on a lot or his knOwiedge in the last few months of his life, due to amyotrophic lareral sclerosis (ALS). This paper will touch on Morriels philosophy of life, what he says is important and valuable, and also the struggles and problems of life. nan ideas and to better understand it itis easier to break it down into parts. One of the philosophies was to cherish family and to be more open about your emotions so that you will not regret it when you or a oved one ales. Anotner one oT Morie.s pnilosopnles is to De open to rorgiveness tne ToloWing quote shows how Morrie regrets not Torgiving one or nis Closest iriends. u Over the yeas, I met Norman a few times and he always tred to reconcile, butI didnut accept it. IT wasn.t satistied with his explanation. I was prideful. Mitch…a tew years ago…he died of cancer.
I never got to torgive him. AIDom p. 166). Ihat quote showed how Morrie deeply regrets not torgiving his tnend, tor Sometning Morriels philosophy has to do with culture, The following quote shows how stronaly he felt about the y American people should live. DYOu start making money a god. It is all part of this culture…The ede thingSI Can odey. But the big things now we think, wnat we value those you must ch00se yourselr. You canut le anyone or any socley determine those ror youu tAlbom p.lb4155).nis quore sows ugl orne doesnot ree wu tne waly many nencaln peopie vE eire. iany et ue Culture tell them how to Iive their life but his philosophy is that you must be your own person and ion.t let anyone else tell you how to Iive. Morrie put a lot or empnasis on what is important and material things to judae others instead of looking on the inside and geting to know them. One quote that supports this statement says how we should not depend on material things to find happiness and Iove. hey were embracing material things and expecting a sort of hug back. But t never works. YOu canit substrute naterial hings Tor love Or Tor genteness or tor tenderness or tora sense or Comradeshipu AlDom p. Les). Tnis quote snows one or orre.s strongest values, It tels now ne relt about money and material items.
Morrie felt that people look to much at what others have and base their triends on money. You cannot tum to cars, money, or mansions to get love and be liked by Morrie also had ideas on the challenges faced bv humans and Our human narure. He highlighte.d some of the struggles and problems faced by most humans. The following quote shows how Morrie felt about people basing their Iives on money instead of simple pleasures. uMorrie had always been keT in Smpe plesures, singing. augnng, encin9. NOW. InrE n ever, nlerla ings nel ue r no signimcanCe…Vveve gota lorm or Dralnwasing 9Ong on in Our county…MOre money is good, more property Is good, more cornnercialism is good.. Ihe average person is so togged up by all this, he has no perspective on whatls realy important anyrmorel Albom p. 124-125). Ihis quote than someone else or more property. Morrie sees this as being a big problem in the country today. He reeis tnat peopie should be themseives and have Tun Winout iooKing at now mucn they own. 1o Deter understana ores pniosopnyw conpelre nd Conurast wnsone ouner prosopneS. First, cOmpare ne piosopny or Ka ak o Mores. ne pointat ia and ore wourd agree on Would probably be what Marx calls historical determinism. Historical determinism according to Marx Is how we respond to history in predictable ways. lts how we have freewill to change and react to bie friend died and his chance to forgive him was gone.
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The next point Marx makes is that there is no individual human nature. Every action of every human potentaly efects otners (Stevenson p. 140). Morrie wouid agree Dy saying tnat wnat one person does can greaty erect otner peopie. or example now tne laugnter or otner people makes nim reel gooa, but tne sorrow otner people nave ror nim and his illness makes him feel bad. Lastly, Marx says that the largest impact on individuals is their work (Stevenson p. 140). Morrie would also greatly agree with this because of how he looks down upon he people wno are caugnt up in material things. He taiked a lot or now numans are caugnt up in work, and material things in general. Morrie and Marx WOuld probably disagree on a lot of things and the first one would be the first point in Marxis theory. Marx says that economics Is the key to all history and itus the way we understand society and individuals. He goes on to say money and wealth sociehy is ht he ol disaorep that itis the wav societ shodd he As stated in the nararanh before Morrie looked down upon those who thought money and material things proved who you were. he second philosopny will compare to Morrie Is Jean Paul sate. sarteis main point is called Aestnenc EXtenialsm, wicn nas tnree parts. orie wouo agree win the nirst part wnicn States tna we value the individual. Every individual is a unique being that has itls Own purpose in lite (Stevenson p. 1/0). Some of Morriels man points also state that a individual should be valued as atitsudes.
values. and way of life (Stevenson p. 170). Morie would also oreatly aaree with this statement. Morrie says that those people that choose to value the wrong things in life or choose ave &grupy su uude re ostn is wornd. ioie Deeves yOu sTOuid ve a g0u uude Pick purgose i e o nepues as vE s yoursel, ad uways veue nonmlei ungs over marerial hings. Ine part or the pniiosopny that Sare and Morrie wouia disagree on would be on the Topic wnere sarte denies the existence Or one truth. Sare says that muiuple reaiies exist, Ire is absurd, and lite doesnilt make any sense (Stevenson p.175). Morrie wOuld disagree with this Morr the wrong values and was not looking at life in a nonmaterial way. The last philosophy I will compare wtn Morle is one or Simone DeBeavoil, DeBeavolr nas Tive levels or numaness she uses to look ar al ypes or peopie. very inaiviua nts into one or ner ve categores accoraing to ner. Morie woUid agree witn parts or eacn level and disagree witn pans or he same level. so to deter compare tnese two philosophies I will look at each level and state which parts Morrie would agree with and which ones he wOuld disagree with.
The first level is calls subhuman, which DeBeavoir says is denial of o i 7in claee tac) orria ld ar thatnia aro loead into thoir land ha o freedom in some instances. He would also on the other hand somewhat disagree because he would encourage tnese peEople and y to teacn tnem now o take Contro or tner ives. Ine secona evet is Eu stus peop s w pepe t ueses Oueuvy ese ypts Opeopie Delleve tnere is logc Denind everyning. tney never damit tnat they can posses a persona vaue, and they never question anything (Zink). Morrie would greatly disagree with this type of person even though he would agree there are a lot of people out there like this. Morrie is a huge supporter of every set of valu a ccents nothina, and finds fault with everything. They are the type of people who overcome everyone and every idea other people have (Zink class notes). Morrie would agree with this type of persons attitude. He would like that they chalenge everything with their own ideas and that they just donlt sit back and do whatever someone else says. He would also disagree with the persons attitude about wanting to rule everything and that they would ruin any ideas that someone else had. The fourth level according to DeBeavoir is called the adventurer.
The adventurer is the type of person who is absorbed in action. This person will be a part of everything that comes along but there will be no meaning or content behind the persons action. These types of people always let you know they are there and seem to be independent but are really dependent on the action (Zink class notes). Morrie would totally disagree with this type of person. He would agree with them wanting to be involved with everything but he would want them to be genuine and put feeling into their actions. The last level is Passionate, which is explained as the person who is always looking for the answer. Thiss type of person is the person who always wants more, they seek possessions but are never fulfilled (Zink). Morrie would want to help this person, he would want to answer their questions and help them find their answers. He would agree with their need to find their answer and that they always want more, always get the most out of life. To summarize this paper I agree with Morrie and his view of human nature and his philosophy of life. I think you should always value family and friends more than material things.
You should also live life to the itls fullest and share your thoughts with others because you never know when you or the other person might not be around anymore. As for adding anything to Morriels ideas, I donit think I would. Morrie’s philosophy would be a good one to live by and the main point to remember would be you never know when the person you care about wll be gone. So tell them how you feel about them and share your knowledge with everyone that you can.
