MORRIE SCHWARTZ: A TEACHER TO THE LAST

PROBLEMS WITH MATERIALISM AND MONEY

• "we got a form of brainwashing"(124).
• "Do you know how they brainwash? They repeat something over and over"(124).
• "The average person is fogged up by this, he has no perspective on what
• Is really important"(124-125).
• People are forgetting their role in society because they are too caught up on this "materialistic" world.

GIVE BACK TO YOUR COMMUNITY!

• To get satisfaction in life, you must offer your community what you have to give.
• "I don't mean money Mitch. I mean your time. Your Concern. Your Storytelling"(126).
• "This is how you start to get respect, by offering something you have"(127).
• To get a meaningful life you must, " devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to
• your community, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning"(127).

SOCIETY AND THEIR 'ANTI-AGING' TIPS

• "On my ride from the boston airport, I counted the billboards that featured young and beautiful
• people....Not once did I see anyone over thirty-five" (117).
• "I had gone from being proud to say my age...to not bringing it up, for the fear I was getting to forty
• and,therefor, professional oblivian" (117).
• Our society today only emphasizes on how if you don't look young/beautiful,you become irrelevant.

EMBRACE YOUR AGE AND CONQUER THE WORLD!

• Morrie explains that in order to not fear aging, you must be able to embrace it.
• "Aging is not just decay,you know. It's growth"(118)
• Morrie concludes that people who wish to be young again are unsatisfied with their lives.
• "The truth is, part of me is every age.I'm a 30 year old, 5 year old, I'm a 37 year old, I'm a 50 year old.
• I been through all of them, and I know what it's like... I am every age up to my own.Do you understand?"(120-121).

THE EVER SO POPULAR DISPUTE BETWEEN MODERN CULTURE AND SOCIETY

• Morrie believed that the characteristic of human beings is instinctively good.
• In the novel Morrie stated that " 'People are only mean when they're threatened' "(154).
• He later states, " 'and that's what our culture does. That's what our economy does. Even people who
• have jobs in our economy are threatened, because they worry about losing them. And when you
• get threatened you start looking out only for yourself. You start making money a god...' " (154).

CREATE YOUR OWN CULTURE!

• Morrie suggest to create your own "subculture"(155) and not to cave in 'our' ever so beloved
• brainwashing society. To conclude he is telling Mitch not to buy in the culture society created for us
• " 'I don't mean disregard every rule of your community... The little things, I can obey. But the
• big things---how we think, what we value---those you must choose yourself. You can't anyone
• ---or any society---determine those for you.' "(155).

WhAT MORRIE SCHWARTZ TAUGHT ME

• Materialism and money are inimitable to the relationships we cherish and preserve.
• Be different. Don't allow yourself to believe the rules society has created for us.
• "Love each other or perish" (91).
• Be compassionate to yourself and every being around you.
• Embrace life. Don't see it as a countdown to death, but a miracle that offers new experiences.