Tuesday’s with Morrie: An Old Man, A Young Man, and Life’s Greatest Lesson

Morrie Schwartz’s final class takes place at his home on Tuesday mornings. One student, Mitch Albom, attends: “The subject was The Meaning of Life. It was taught from experience” (19). Albom is to produce a term paper; Tuesdays with Morrie is that work.

Years earlier, in 1979 on graduation day at Brandeis University, Albom introduces his favorite professor, Morrie Schwartz, to his parents. Morrie informs them that Albom has taken every one of his courses. Morrie asks Albom to stay in touch; Albom promises that he will. 

Morrie has always loved to dance—Lindy, free style, anything. In his sixties, though, he developed asthma, and in his seventies, he came down with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, a terminal neurological illness known informally as Lou Gehrig’s disease. He teaches his final class in 1994. Slowly, the disease takes away his ability to move; in time, he can no longer dress himself or even urinate without assistance.

Instead of fading away uselessly, however, Morrie decides to make his own death the subject of study. He invites people to visit and discuss their problems; he holds informal study groups.