Morrie Schwartz

The play Tuesdays With Morrie is about the teacher Morrie Scwartz. But it isn't about how he lived, it's a story about how he died, because it was in death that Morrie made a real impression on the world. It's the grace, humor and common sense with which he responded to death that attracted millions. His is a story about a man who would always be a teacher, and most especially a mentor to Mitch Albom. Morrie took the opportunity of dying to preach how to live, when Mitch asked him if he felt like he was being used by the Nightline crew Morrie responded, "If they're using me, I'm using them. I'm reaching more people than I ever taught before." He saw his death as an opportunity, not the end of all future ones. He was open about death, about weakness and all the debilitating change that disease brought on. But for all the fame death brought him, Morrie had a life before his death, Mitch at least thought that Morrie had been living and teaching his philosophy long before he ever got Lou Gehrig's disease.

For all that's been written about Morrie's death and his death bed philosophy there doesn't seem to have been even half so much interest in his life. But then, his life was quiet. He was born December 20, 1916. He went from New York's City College to the University of Chicago, obtaining a Ph.D. in Sociology which he went on to teach at Brandeis University, just west of Boston, a school named for the first Jewish Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. He taught there for 30 years, until his disease prevented him from being a teacher in the university -- though it would never really end his calling.

Mitch describes Morrie as a man born for the 60's, a man who loved freedom of expression and hated greed and war. There are two instances in the play that appear to be true, first of Morrie giving students A's during the Vietnam War so they could avoid the draft, and second of him being a negotiator between the University President and a group of black student demonstrators. This was the story that piqued my interest but, just like the rest of Morrie's life, there wasn't much detail here either.

On January 8th, 1969 the Ford and Sydeman Halls were taken over and renamed the Malcolm X University by approximately 70 African American students with 10 demands seeking better minority representation. These demands included a separate budget for the African Studies Department committee, an Afro-American Center, 10 Martin Luther King scholarships for black students and the expulsion of a white student who had shot a black one the previous year (they can be found here: http://lts.brandeis.edu/research/archives-speccoll/events/ford/occupation/tendemands.html). Students outside the buildings became involved hoping to tip the impasse, including 22 white students who started a hunger strike in favor or the demonstrators. The President of the University , Morris Abram, did not agree to all the demands but he did agree to "all legitimate demands" as well as to amnesty to most of the students and they left the buildings 11 days after the demonstration began. A year later he was replaced as president and the acting President signed an agreement to allow additional African-American students on campus. According to Morrie, he climbed into the building as a further effort to end the strike in the students' favor but this isn't mentioned in the account.

I wish more was mentioned on Morrie's life. It doesn't seem fair for people to learn so much from his death and never bother to learn more about his life. Morrie said "Learn how to live, and you'll know how to die; learn how to die, and you'll know how to live." He taught this to people from his death bed, but honestly, I'm sure he tried to teach it just as hard from his teaching pulpit. People just listened better when he was sick. What a pity.