24 Seven February 2022

FROM THE EDITOR
—
As we travel through the journey of life,
we may stumble upon a person who changes
the trajectory of where we thought we were
heading. Sometimes the change is a minor
reroute, but other times it re-charts our
direction. For Mitch Albom that person was
Morrie Schwartz.
Mitch was a successful and ambitious
sportswriter who wrote for newspapers,
appeared on ESPN television, and did radio.
He often worked 90 plus hours per week
climbing the proverbial ladder. One day while
flipping through television channels, he caught
the Nightline program and on the screen saw a
thin, sickly, white haired version of his college
professor – Morrie Schwartz - with whom he
had been very close, but hadn’t seen in years.
He learned through the program that Morrie
was dying from Lou Gehrig’s Disease.
Feeling guilty about not staying in touch,
he decided to call his professor. At the end
of the conversation Morrie asked him to visit
and he agreed, thinking it would be a one
and done meeting. But the visit made such
an impression on Mitch that he decided to
return weekly on Tuesdays. From those visits
he gained insight about what was important in
life from a man who was dying. According to
Mitch, their rekindled relationship turned into
one final class: lessons in how to live.
“Everything that he felt was important
were things that I was not valuing in my life,”
said Mitch. “And so from that point forward I
started turning things around.”
One of the biggest lessons that had a
profound impact on Mitch was the importance
of giving. He recalled times people visited
Morrie with the intention of cheering him up,
but before long, the tables were turned and
Morrie would be holding their hand trying
to help them with whatever challenges they
faced.
Divorce, love life, work issues, he helped
them all. After witnessing this time and time
again, Mitch finally asked why he didn’t take
their sympathy. Why did he give them more
than they gave him? To this Morrie replied:
“Mitch, taking like that just makes me feel like
I’m dying. Giving makes me feel like I’m living.”
Hearing those words, I realized that if what
made a man who had weeks left on this earth
feel the most alive was giving, then that had to
be true for those of us in our younger, healthier
years, said Mitch. “I started my first charity
that year and have been deeper and deeper
into that world ever since.”
Today, Mitch has multiple charitable
operations in the Detroit area committed to
“lifting our neediest when they stumble.” He
also operates an orphanage in Haiti, which he
visits monthly. He noted that he sleeps better
on the orphanage’s four-inch mattress than he
does anywhere else in the world.
Mitch’s advice to find contentment? Find
someone who needs your help and you’ll be
amazed at how good you’ll feel about your
days.
Listen to my conversation with Mitch:
www.cyacyl.com/shows/mitch-albom
— Joan Herrmann