STOP and Listen

When Mitch Albom, a successful, award-winning sportswriter for the Detroit Free Press, was 37 years old he learned that his favorite teacher from Brandeis University, Morrie Schwartz, was dying of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (commonly known as ALS and Lou Gehrig’s disease). Much to his surprise, one night while watching late night TV, he happened to see his sociology professor being interviewed by Ted Koeppel on Nightline. So, 16 years after he had promised to stay in touch, he contacted his teacher for the first time since graduation and set up a time to come and visit. Although he had no plans to do so, Albom continued after that first belated visit to go see his beloved teacher. A newspaper strike allowed the sports columnist to travel every Tuesday for fourteen weeks from Detroit to Schwart’s home in Massachusetts.

Once again the professor taught the student, this time about living and dying, and how to do each with dignity. He offered insights on the natural process of dying, on friendship, love, marriage, happiness, facing fear, serving others, and how facing death has a way of clarifying what matters most. And always the wisdom was spiced with self-effacing humor. Albom wrote Tuesdays with Morrie, a memorial of love, as a tribute to his teacher. It  became the number one best-selling book on the New York Times Bestseller List. It remained on the list for 205 weeks selling over 14 million copies.

In an interview, Albom said, “When I was a sportswriter – if someone wanted to talk to me in an airport they’d say, ‘Hey, you’re Mitch Albom. Who’s going to win the Superbowl?’ And I’d shout back ‘The Patriots’ and keep going.”

“But after I wrote Tuesdays with Morrie, people recognized me and they’d say, “Hey, You’re Mitch Albom. My mother died of cancer and the last thing we did together was read Tuesday’s with Morrie. Can I show you a picture? Can I talk to you about —–.”

“Well, you can’t say ‘The Patriots’ and keep going. You Stop! And that’s when it began for me,” said Albom. “Tuesdays with Morrie made me stop and listen to people and actually hear more than the little meaningless conversations that I had been having.”

Reconnecting with his lively dying college professor redirected Albom’s life, changed his priorities, taught him to stop and listen on a regular basis, not just one Tuesday a month to Morrie but to people he hadn’t much noticed before. It revealed to him what is of the essence and what is ephemeral, opened his eyes to the less fortunate whom he now serves through the several charities he started. It’s intriguing how often the near occasion of death will do that to people.

♦ ♦ ♦

“So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they’re busy doing things they think are important. This is because they’re chasing the wrong things. 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.”

~ Morrie Schwartz

~ Friends, in case you haven’t noticed, I have taken a temporary hiatus from posting any new writings. For now, I will keep offering Life-Lines on Mondays and TUESDAYS WITH STORY each week. Keep checking, I will be posting essays and reflections before long. ~ Dan