Morrie, the author's thesis professor, diagnosed with a neuro disease, terminal. they talked abt a range of topics, the fear of aging, family, emotions, how love goes on, money, death, what would you write on your tombstone, the topics of life that are frequently masked by our worthless small talks.
Forget the culture
~*~
our culture tells us to be ashamed if we can't wipe our own behind. but then i figured, forget what the culture says.
(...)
i began to enjoy my dependency. now i enjoy when they turn me over on my side and rub cream on my behind so i don't get sores. or when they wipe my brow, or they massage my legs. i revel in it. i close my eyes and soak it up.
it's like going back to being a child again. someone to bathe you. someone to lift you. someone to wipe you. we all know how to be a child. it's inside all of us. for me, it's just remembering how to enjoy it.
the truth is, when our mothers held us, rocked us, stroked our heads - none of us ever got enough of that. we all yearn in some way to return to those days when we were completely taken care of - unconditional love, unconditional attention. most of us didn't get enough.
~*~
the tv host asked if Morrie was more afraid now that death was near. Morrie said no; to tell the truth, he was less afraid. He said he was letting go of some of the outside world, not having the newspaper read to him as much, not paying as much attention to mail, instead listening more to music and watching the leaves change colour through his window.
Love, is to be fully present. With all you are. You and that person in front of you.
~*~
I believe in being fully present. That means you should be with the person you're with. When I'm talking to you now, Mitch, I try to keep focused only on what is going on between us. I am not thinking about something we said last week. I am not thinking of what's coming up this Friday. I am not thinking about doing another Koppel show, or about what medications I'm taking.
I am talking to you. I am thinking about you.
~*~
Mitch has a professional singer as a wife. Morrie asks her to sing for him. Surprising to her husband, she does.
Morrie closed his eyes to absorb the notes. As my wife's loving voice filled the room, a crescent smile appeared on his face. and while his body was stiff as a sandbag, you could almost see him dancing inside it.
when she finished, Morrie opened his eyes and tears rolled down his cheeks. in all these years i have listened to my wife sing, i never heard her the way he did at that moment.
~*~
Allow yourself to be loved
this is perhaps one thing we often forget... while we push ourselves to love others, may we give ourselves some grace to be loved as well? :)
~*~
do i worry abt being forgotten after i died? - i don't think i will be. i've got so many people who have been involved with me in close, intimate ways. and love is how you stay alive, even after you are gone.
~*~
in the beginning of life, when we are infants, we need others to survive, right? and at the end of life, when you get like me, you need others to survive, right?
his voice dropped to a whisper. but here's the secret: in between, we need others as well.
Invest in the human family. Invest in people. Build a little community of those you love and who love you.
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