Cassandra Stephens
December 3, 2012
Psy. 120- Book Review
Professor Dr. Priebe

Summary: Tuesdays with Morrie, was based on a true story about friendship and lessons learned. It’s about a sports writer, Mitch and former sociology professor, Morrie, who is in his last days of life after being diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and their rekindled relationship after many years. They first met on the campus grounds at Brandeis University. This never forgotten relationship was simply picked back up at a crucial time in both Mitch’s and Morrie’s life. After seeing his professor in an interview on the show “Nightline”, Mitch is reminded of a promise he made sixteen years earlier to keep in touch. Since the airing of that
In the book, Morrie does not allow the disease to consume him, but rather he uses each moment to teach. The book touches basis on Morrie’s life review, which is the process by which people assess their lives, recalling and evaluating their past (Steinberg, p. 573). Through this process Morrie was able to find meaning and purpose within his life. He passed this knowledge onto Mitch when he told him “So many people walk around with a meaningless life. This is because they’re chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, to your community, and to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.” (Albom, p.43). This is also a great example of how and what generativity is about (discussed later). Morrie’s life review leads him to feel that his life had meaning, which prepared him to face death. Overall, this stage of life’s goal is to feel at peace with oneself and the world without regrets. On the other hand, Erikson’s model can be applied to Mitch’s middle age stage of development. This period of life’s challenge involves the struggle between generativity and stagnation. Generativity is the desire to contribute to one’s family, community, and society by nurturing and guiding the next generation. Stagnation is a sense of self-absorption and lack of meaning that results when adults focus on their own needs (Steinberg, 502). Mitch suffered from the latter,