Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom (1997)
Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group; Random House Inc.
Precis:
Mitch is visiting Morrie every Tuesday. He has to travel very far. He is recording the conversations and becoming closer to Morrie. Morrie is giving him a lot of insights on life and death. He talks about how people aren't actually living and fully experiencing the world and looking at their lives as a whole. Mitch is starting to realize problems in his life and question certain decisions he made in his life.
Quotes:
"Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live."
"'Most of us all walk around as if we're sleepwalking. We really don't experience the world fully, because we're half-asleep, doing things we automatically think we have to do.'"
"He nodded toward the window with the sunshine streaming in. 'You see that?' You can go out there, outside, anytime. You can run up and down the block and go crazy. I can't do that. I can't go out. I can't run. I can't be out there without fear of getting sick. But you know what? I appreciate that window more than you do'".
Thoughts:
I think that this book is very true and I can relate to a lot of the things mentioned. For example the second quote. I think this is 100% true, I feel like very little of the people in the world are fully experiencing the world and life. But it made me wonder is it possible. People can't just drop their jobs and do whatever they want because they need their jobs for money because mostly everything revolves around money. The book is making me want to live differently but I'm not really sure how and I realize how easy it is to get caught up in every day life opposed to looking at life as a whole.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
HW 21B
My comments posted on others:
Sophia,
Niiiice. I really liked how you explained thoroughly what your views on a hospice was before and how Beth brought you to a different realization/view of hospices opposed to dying at home. You made a strong connection to your father's story and about this "still feeling" there is when someone dies. I like the idea of having some type of closure and not wanting to die in an accident or in a sudden.
Elizabeth,
Niiiiiiice. It was beautifully written. You did really well analyzing the insights Beth gave us on a deeper level. I thought it was good that you connected back to your own experiences in the second paragraph. My favorite part of your post was "And left me personally with these words ringing in my ear, "The only way to not be hurt by death is to die first"." I thought this was written beautifully and it is a strong statement that also stuck with me.
Chris,
Niiiiiice. I like how you went deeper into what Beth said in the 2nd paragraph... "Personally if I was being introduced to someone while I was in one of the worse states in my life, I wouldn’t be want to be viewed by my lowest moment, just like Beth tried to do I would want to be loved for the things I have done, the people I have help, and anything I have helped created." I really liked this part because I completely agree and I think it is easy to easily get labeled as a disease. I also think you make a really good point in the last paragraph because I felt like everyone knew it was his last 10 days but it's not like he "had an expiration date" like you said.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Comments posted on my post:
Sophia-
I liked this part, because you used things associated with a hospital to describe it, as opposed to only descriptive words:
"It just seemed so much more peaceful being at home opposed to the hospital which is just doctors in white coats and note pads in an isolated place. Home seems like a much more comfortable place and you can be with the people you love and you don't get covered with a blanket and wheeled away after you die."
You could have expanded on why you thought home seemed more comfortable, but other then that, the whole paragraph was really good.
Chris-
Hey Burt,
I think that the strongest paragraph you have in this was the second paragraph. In that short paragraph I think you stated something that not many people have stated in their blogs and it is one of the most key pieces to what was being said by Beth. You mentioned that we normally don't see people die. I think this was the beginning of a really good paragraph but you failed to make a follow up statement about this. I think your work could have been much better if you would have talked about this more or staying home helping someone more considering that you said it was something that jumped out to you immediately. Posing some questions and trying to dig deeper is something that I really encourage you to do for the remainder of the blog post. Also you seem to answer the questions pretty well but the questions do say compare and contrast the insights that you have and I would like to see how some of what you think. Then for the questions you do ask, I feel like some of these could have been questions that you tried to answer when you talk about other things in the beginning of the post. So what you overall need to focus on for later is expanding on your ideas because they will probably be good, maybe adding in something from personal experience and making sure you compare and contrast your thoughts. Doing this will completely answer the homework question.
Elizabeth-
Jasper,
This was a very nice, thoughtful post. I enjoyed how the last paragraph was full of insightful questions that would leave the reader thinking; not only about Erik's death, but of the overall picture of society's way of dealing with illness and dying.
What I think you could improve on is the beauty/grammar. This is just my personal opinion, but I think that grammar can be quite beautiful; adding semi-colons or commas here and there can make a piece look and flow beautifully.
There are a few places where I wanted to sneak in commas and semicolons or switch words around. Here is an example:
"It just seemed so much more peaceful being at home opposed to the hospital which is just doctors in white coats and note pads in an isolated place".
I would have changed that to:
"It just seemed much more peaceful being at home, as opposed to the ___(add adjectives here) hospital; an isolated place full of doctors wearing white coats and carrying note pads.
By changing around words in sentences and adding more punctuation (but not TOO much punctuation), you can create a beautifully flowing piece that will hit the reader even harder than it already did.
-Cecilia (Mom) comment
"Home seems like a much more comfortable place and you can be with the people you love and you don't get covered with a blanket and wheeled away after you die." I agree and it was not that long ago when it was common for families to take care of older people. Houses were bigger and it was common for grandparents to move in with the family if they became lonely and could not take care of themselves. They died at home with their family around them. Women stayed home so there was always someone there. Today women must work and it may very difficult to have someone at home and care for them during sickness and dying. You can further develop this idea and compare care of old people today and how both people in a couple are forced to work today to cover cost of living and care for elderly or sick.
Sophia,
Niiiice. I really liked how you explained thoroughly what your views on a hospice was before and how Beth brought you to a different realization/view of hospices opposed to dying at home. You made a strong connection to your father's story and about this "still feeling" there is when someone dies. I like the idea of having some type of closure and not wanting to die in an accident or in a sudden.
Elizabeth,
Niiiiiiice. It was beautifully written. You did really well analyzing the insights Beth gave us on a deeper level. I thought it was good that you connected back to your own experiences in the second paragraph. My favorite part of your post was "And left me personally with these words ringing in my ear, "The only way to not be hurt by death is to die first"." I thought this was written beautifully and it is a strong statement that also stuck with me.
Chris,
Niiiiiice. I like how you went deeper into what Beth said in the 2nd paragraph... "Personally if I was being introduced to someone while I was in one of the worse states in my life, I wouldn’t be want to be viewed by my lowest moment, just like Beth tried to do I would want to be loved for the things I have done, the people I have help, and anything I have helped created." I really liked this part because I completely agree and I think it is easy to easily get labeled as a disease. I also think you make a really good point in the last paragraph because I felt like everyone knew it was his last 10 days but it's not like he "had an expiration date" like you said.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Comments posted on my post:
Sophia-
I liked this part, because you used things associated with a hospital to describe it, as opposed to only descriptive words:
"It just seemed so much more peaceful being at home opposed to the hospital which is just doctors in white coats and note pads in an isolated place. Home seems like a much more comfortable place and you can be with the people you love and you don't get covered with a blanket and wheeled away after you die."
You could have expanded on why you thought home seemed more comfortable, but other then that, the whole paragraph was really good.
Chris-
Hey Burt,
I think that the strongest paragraph you have in this was the second paragraph. In that short paragraph I think you stated something that not many people have stated in their blogs and it is one of the most key pieces to what was being said by Beth. You mentioned that we normally don't see people die. I think this was the beginning of a really good paragraph but you failed to make a follow up statement about this. I think your work could have been much better if you would have talked about this more or staying home helping someone more considering that you said it was something that jumped out to you immediately. Posing some questions and trying to dig deeper is something that I really encourage you to do for the remainder of the blog post. Also you seem to answer the questions pretty well but the questions do say compare and contrast the insights that you have and I would like to see how some of what you think. Then for the questions you do ask, I feel like some of these could have been questions that you tried to answer when you talk about other things in the beginning of the post. So what you overall need to focus on for later is expanding on your ideas because they will probably be good, maybe adding in something from personal experience and making sure you compare and contrast your thoughts. Doing this will completely answer the homework question.
Elizabeth-
Jasper,
This was a very nice, thoughtful post. I enjoyed how the last paragraph was full of insightful questions that would leave the reader thinking; not only about Erik's death, but of the overall picture of society's way of dealing with illness and dying.
What I think you could improve on is the beauty/grammar. This is just my personal opinion, but I think that grammar can be quite beautiful; adding semi-colons or commas here and there can make a piece look and flow beautifully.
There are a few places where I wanted to sneak in commas and semicolons or switch words around. Here is an example:
"It just seemed so much more peaceful being at home opposed to the hospital which is just doctors in white coats and note pads in an isolated place".
I would have changed that to:
"It just seemed much more peaceful being at home, as opposed to the ___(add adjectives here) hospital; an isolated place full of doctors wearing white coats and carrying note pads.
By changing around words in sentences and adding more punctuation (but not TOO much punctuation), you can create a beautifully flowing piece that will hit the reader even harder than it already did.
-Cecilia (Mom) comment
"Home seems like a much more comfortable place and you can be with the people you love and you don't get covered with a blanket and wheeled away after you die." I agree and it was not that long ago when it was common for families to take care of older people. Houses were bigger and it was common for grandparents to move in with the family if they became lonely and could not take care of themselves. They died at home with their family around them. Women stayed home so there was always someone there. Today women must work and it may very difficult to have someone at home and care for them during sickness and dying. You can further develop this idea and compare care of old people today and how both people in a couple are forced to work today to cover cost of living and care for elderly or sick.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
HW 22
Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom (1997)
Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group; Random House Inc.
Precis:
Mitch became very connected to Morrie during college. But he easily lost contact with him after college and forgot about him. He had his first experience with death, his uncle whom he always looked up to got sick and died at a young age. This changed Mitch's life and he wasn't really sure how to go about life if he could just get sick and die any time. Then he heard about Morrie on TV and saw a special on the news about him, and he went to go visit Morrie and his last lesson began.
Quotes:
"After the funeral, my life changed. I felt as if time were suddenly precious, water going down an open drain, and I could not move quickly enough."
"Instead, I buried myself in accomplishments, because with accomplishments, I believed I could control things, I could squeeze every last piece of happiness before I got sick and died, like my uncle before me, which I figured was my natural fate."
"When all this started, I asked myself, 'Am I going to withdraw myself from the world, like most people do, or am I going to live?' I decided I am going to live-or at least try to live-the way I want, with dignity, with courage, with humor, with composure."
Response:
I think this book is interesting so far even though I haven't got very deep in. I have made a few connections to the book. I have felt some of the feelings for example the feeling described in the first quote. I also think the book portrays some of the social norms when it comes to illness and dying for example Morrie talks about how usually people are embarrassed when they are dying and they withdraw themselves from the world before they even die. Also the fact that people get together and talk about the good things and memories and about someones life after they die so they're not there to hear it that's why Morrie decided to have a celebration of his life before he died so he could be there to hear everything.
Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group; Random House Inc.
Precis:
Mitch became very connected to Morrie during college. But he easily lost contact with him after college and forgot about him. He had his first experience with death, his uncle whom he always looked up to got sick and died at a young age. This changed Mitch's life and he wasn't really sure how to go about life if he could just get sick and die any time. Then he heard about Morrie on TV and saw a special on the news about him, and he went to go visit Morrie and his last lesson began.
Quotes:
"After the funeral, my life changed. I felt as if time were suddenly precious, water going down an open drain, and I could not move quickly enough."
"Instead, I buried myself in accomplishments, because with accomplishments, I believed I could control things, I could squeeze every last piece of happiness before I got sick and died, like my uncle before me, which I figured was my natural fate."
"When all this started, I asked myself, 'Am I going to withdraw myself from the world, like most people do, or am I going to live?' I decided I am going to live-or at least try to live-the way I want, with dignity, with courage, with humor, with composure."
Response:
I think this book is interesting so far even though I haven't got very deep in. I have made a few connections to the book. I have felt some of the feelings for example the feeling described in the first quote. I also think the book portrays some of the social norms when it comes to illness and dying for example Morrie talks about how usually people are embarrassed when they are dying and they withdraw themselves from the world before they even die. Also the fact that people get together and talk about the good things and memories and about someones life after they die so they're not there to hear it that's why Morrie decided to have a celebration of his life before he died so he could be there to hear everything.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
HW 21
Some insights:
-Death is something that is distant and we are separated from it
-The last 10 days of her husbands life were some of the best days of their marriage
-Telling her husband to let go
-Taking care of her dying husband opposed to having him in the hospital
-It was not peaceful when her husband was dying like they show it in movies and his looks drastically changed
-She accepted that Erik was going to die
The fact that Beth took care of her husband at home with no help stood out to me immediately. Prior to this I had never heard of anyone doing that, usually someone dying is kept in the hospital. I totally agreed with this decision she made, if I had a dying family member I would want to do the same thing. It just seemed so much more peaceful being at home opposed to the hospital which is just doctors in white coats and note pads in an isolated place. Home seems like a much more comfortable place and you can be with the people you love and you don't get covered with a blanket and wheeled away after you die. I know I would much rather die at home.
Another insight was that we are separated from death in our society. I never really thought about this at all. I guess because it has always been normal to me that we're disconnected from death. It has become normal to put someone in a hospital behind closed curtains isolated from the everything. You don't see people die. The person is dying in this unfamiliar uncomfortable place with people they don't know maybe a couple family members.
There are so many questions I still have. How can you accept the fact that someone you love is dying? What do you say to someone during their last days? Is there anything that can really put you at peace? I haven't had much experience with death but I just don't know how people cope with losing people. I also was wondering about our society. How did it become that death is so separated from everyone? Also I was wondering why do they show death differently in movies than it actually is? Why is it covered up and changed so much?
-Death is something that is distant and we are separated from it
-The last 10 days of her husbands life were some of the best days of their marriage
-Telling her husband to let go
-Taking care of her dying husband opposed to having him in the hospital
-It was not peaceful when her husband was dying like they show it in movies and his looks drastically changed
-She accepted that Erik was going to die
The fact that Beth took care of her husband at home with no help stood out to me immediately. Prior to this I had never heard of anyone doing that, usually someone dying is kept in the hospital. I totally agreed with this decision she made, if I had a dying family member I would want to do the same thing. It just seemed so much more peaceful being at home opposed to the hospital which is just doctors in white coats and note pads in an isolated place. Home seems like a much more comfortable place and you can be with the people you love and you don't get covered with a blanket and wheeled away after you die. I know I would much rather die at home.
Another insight was that we are separated from death in our society. I never really thought about this at all. I guess because it has always been normal to me that we're disconnected from death. It has become normal to put someone in a hospital behind closed curtains isolated from the everything. You don't see people die. The person is dying in this unfamiliar uncomfortable place with people they don't know maybe a couple family members.
There are so many questions I still have. How can you accept the fact that someone you love is dying? What do you say to someone during their last days? Is there anything that can really put you at peace? I haven't had much experience with death but I just don't know how people cope with losing people. I also was wondering about our society. How did it become that death is so separated from everyone? Also I was wondering why do they show death differently in movies than it actually is? Why is it covered up and changed so much?
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
HW 19
My beliefs that my parents were more towards the holistic way of dealing with illness was correct. Both my parents have the same approach to dealing with illness. My mom said that your body is designed to fight off sickness, so a lot of the times people will take medicine when they don't even need it. Instead of taking Tylenol cold pills you can rest and do other things to get rid of a cold. There are many home remedy things my parents tell me to do for example gargling hot salt water when you have a sore throat, putting Vicks in boiling water and put a towel over your head and breath it in to clear your sinuses, and drinking tea with honey. This was how they were brought up, both of my parents said that it was very seldom that they went to the doctors only if they were really sick. Another point they made was that they respect antibiotics and how well they work but when you take medicine so much your body becomes resistant to the drug and your bodies natural defense system gets weaker, so if you take it less it will be more effective when you take it and your body can fight sickness off better when you don't take medicine.
I think one thing that changed from their time to now is that now people always want to see a specialist for something. This is an overlap from my parents time to now that I noticed. I think people need to let their bodies deal with things by themselves, opposed to depending on a drug to fight off sickness. My mom said that she and my father are like this in general they like to figure out things themselves and not always just go to someone else.
I also connected this to the last unit and fastfood. I think that in our society people want everything to be fast and easy. For example like with fastfood people want their food as fast as possible and cheap it's all about whats the fastest and easiest. So if people can take a couple pills and feel better fast they'll do that instead of staying home and getting more rest and doing things that are better for your body. I think this is wrong but I also understand the other side very much. If you have that option of taking medicine even if you know you don't necessarily need it, it's hard to turn that down. When I get a headache I automatically think to take a couple Advil pills. If you get a headache you can go lay down and rest but if you have the option to take a pill and keep doing what you were doing it is more convenient.
I think one thing that changed from their time to now is that now people always want to see a specialist for something. This is an overlap from my parents time to now that I noticed. I think people need to let their bodies deal with things by themselves, opposed to depending on a drug to fight off sickness. My mom said that she and my father are like this in general they like to figure out things themselves and not always just go to someone else.
I also connected this to the last unit and fastfood. I think that in our society people want everything to be fast and easy. For example like with fastfood people want their food as fast as possible and cheap it's all about whats the fastest and easiest. So if people can take a couple pills and feel better fast they'll do that instead of staying home and getting more rest and doing things that are better for your body. I think this is wrong but I also understand the other side very much. If you have that option of taking medicine even if you know you don't necessarily need it, it's hard to turn that down. When I get a headache I automatically think to take a couple Advil pills. If you get a headache you can go lay down and rest but if you have the option to take a pill and keep doing what you were doing it is more convenient.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
HW 18
My experience of this Thanksgiving fit into the anti-body vs body centered practices of our culture. The food pleasure supplement completely dominated and focus of the event. This is always the case with thanksgiving. Everyone from the family makes some food and brings it to one place and everyone has a huge feast. No one worries about what they're eating they're not worrying about their body but just eating and connecting with each other. The food wasn't completely unhealthy so in a way it was both anti-body and body centered practices.
This year there wasn't really many other pleasures practiced. Usually the family is more active and doing fun things but this year everyone just sat around. Some of the family all sat together and watched a movie. The others just sat around in other places and did things like talking, playing pool and watching TV. I think the rainy day out kind of affected everyone. Maybe if it was a sunny nice day out everyone's mood would've been different and everyone would have been more active.
The only background element related to illness and dying I could think of was the lack of movement. Like I said it was really rainy and dark out so I think this may have affected everyone where maybe people would've been out in the back yard or playing basketball or going for a walk. For me personally I felt good, I had a lot of energy and was happy as could be. The weather wasn't affecting my mood. I feel like there wasn't really any relation to illness and death because this is a holiday and everyone is getting together and having fun, so no one is trying to focus on negative things instead everyone is happy. Overall it was nothing special but a gooooood Thanksgiving none the less.
This year there wasn't really many other pleasures practiced. Usually the family is more active and doing fun things but this year everyone just sat around. Some of the family all sat together and watched a movie. The others just sat around in other places and did things like talking, playing pool and watching TV. I think the rainy day out kind of affected everyone. Maybe if it was a sunny nice day out everyone's mood would've been different and everyone would have been more active.
The only background element related to illness and dying I could think of was the lack of movement. Like I said it was really rainy and dark out so I think this may have affected everyone where maybe people would've been out in the back yard or playing basketball or going for a walk. For me personally I felt good, I had a lot of energy and was happy as could be. The weather wasn't affecting my mood. I feel like there wasn't really any relation to illness and death because this is a holiday and everyone is getting together and having fun, so no one is trying to focus on negative things instead everyone is happy. Overall it was nothing special but a gooooood Thanksgiving none the less.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
HW 17
I have little experience with illness and dying. I have been very lucky I still have all of my grandparents and none of them have any serious illness and they're all in their 80's. Why is this though? Is it because my ancestors have been healthy with no diseases for generations? I have been sick but never really badly that I needed to be in a hospital. My second cousin developed diabetes when he was about 11 or 12. It came out of nowhere, none of his father's or mother's families have had diabetes. He is the same age as I am, he has to give himself insulin and he has to always think about his blood sugar level, he knows what to do when it's too high and he can feel when it's too low. This makes me wonder how can we be healthy if something like this can happen? A disease just comes out of nowhere.. How can we prevent that? In our countries we may survive some serious illness that may cause death in other poor or 3rd world countries. I know someone that is sick with both diabetes and kidney disease. He needs to go into the hospital for dialysis once every week. But in this case both of his parents died from diabetes in their 50's. If he would've stayed in his country he would have probably not have survived to be as old as he is now.
For dying, I've had a few family members pass away recently from old age and a heart attack. I don't know anyone dying now. I've been taught that dying is part of the life cycle, everything that is alive will eventually die. I've been taught that everyone has there time to go, that's why it's good to fight illness because if it's not your time to go you'll survive. It's important to take care of yourself and celebrate life to understand your purpose in life.
I think the social norms around illness and dying is that you have to support that person. Everyone sends in get well cards and flowers when someone is sick in the hospital. When it comes to dying it is the same and people try to comfort the family and the person that may be dying. Another thing in our society is that you're not allowed to help a dying person that's suffering by letting them go. It's illegal to stop treatments and let the person die. I don't think this is necessarily right, I understand that it's a difficult decision and who can make the decision is also difficult but I think if the person is hurting and suffering and is ready to die they should be allowed to do so.
For dying, I've had a few family members pass away recently from old age and a heart attack. I don't know anyone dying now. I've been taught that dying is part of the life cycle, everything that is alive will eventually die. I've been taught that everyone has there time to go, that's why it's good to fight illness because if it's not your time to go you'll survive. It's important to take care of yourself and celebrate life to understand your purpose in life.
I think the social norms around illness and dying is that you have to support that person. Everyone sends in get well cards and flowers when someone is sick in the hospital. When it comes to dying it is the same and people try to comfort the family and the person that may be dying. Another thing in our society is that you're not allowed to help a dying person that's suffering by letting them go. It's illegal to stop treatments and let the person die. I don't think this is necessarily right, I understand that it's a difficult decision and who can make the decision is also difficult but I think if the person is hurting and suffering and is ready to die they should be allowed to do so.
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