orange

“Say I was divorced, or living alone, or had no children. This disease—what I’m going
through—would be so much harder. I’m not sure I could do it. Sure, people would come
visit, friends, associates, but it’s not the same as having someone who will not leave. It’s
not the same as having someone whom you know has an eye on you, is watching you
the whole time.
“This is part of what a family is about, not just love, but letting others know there’s
someone who is watching out for them. It’s what I missed so much when my mother
died—what I call your ‘spiritual security’—knowing that your family will be there watching
out for you. Nothing else will give you that. Not money. Not fame.”
He shot me a look.
“Not work,” he added”
― Mitch Albom, Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson

“—and the anchor asked if my old professor had anything he wanted to say to the millions of people he had touched. Although he did not mean it this way, I couldn’t help but think of a condemned man being asked for his final words.
“Be compassionate,” Morrie whispered. “And take responsibility for each other. If we only learned those lessons, this world would be so much better a place.”
He took a breath, then added his mantra: “Love each other or die.”
― Mitch Albom, Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson

“I thought about how often this was needed in everyday life. How we feel lonely,
sometimes to the point of tears, but we don’t let those tears come because we are not
supposed to cry. Or how we feel a surge of love for a partner but we don’t say anything
because we’re frozen with the fear of what those words might do to the relationship.
Morrie’s approach was exactly the opposite. Turn on the faucet. Wash yourself with
the emotion. It won’t hurt you. It will only help. If you let the fear inside, if you pull it on
like a familiar shirt, then you can say to yourself, “All right, it’s just fear, I don’t have to let
it control me. I see it for what it is.”
Same for loneliness: you let go, let the tears flow, feel it completely—but eventually be
able to say, “All right, that was my moment with loneliness. I’m not afraid of feeling
lonely, but now I’m going to put that loneliness aside and know that there are other
emotions in the world, and I’m going to experience them as well.”
― Mitch Albom, Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson

“Mitch, it is impossible for the old not to envy the young. But the issue is to accept who
you are and revel in that. This is your time to be in your thirties. I had my time to be in
my thirties, and now is my time to be seventy-eight.
“You have to find what’s good and true and beautiful in your life as it is now. Looking
back makes you competitive. And, age is not a competitive issue.”
He exhaled and lowered his eyes, as if to watch his breath scatter into the air.
“The truth is, part of me is every age. I’m a three-year-old, I’m a five-year-old, I’m a thirty-seven-year-old, I’m a fifty-year-old. I’ve been through all of them, and I know what it’s like. I delight in being a child when it’s appropriate to be a child. I delight in being a wise old man when it’s appropriate to be a wise old man. Think of all I can be! I am every age, up to my own. Do you understand?”
I nodded.
“How can I be envious of where you are—when I’ve been there myself?”
― Mitch Albom, Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson