Most of us take the simple day to day activities in our lives for granted. Being able to eat, wash ourselves, even breath on our own. There is a large number of people who every day find someone else doing these simple tasks for them. Most people have never had to think about someone washing them because their muscles are too weak to lift even a sponge. It might not even be that we don't have to think about it, but we don't want to think about it. In Tuesdays with Morrie, Morrie is diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). He starts to have trouble breathing, walking, and finally talking. Throughout his experience Morrie learns to take what he has and not let it get him down. "Because it's the ultimate sign of dependency. Someone wiping your bottom. But I"m working on it. I"m trying to enjoy the process." "Enjoy it?"(Mitch) "Yes. After all, I get to be a baby one more time." (49) Morrie takes a event that would make most of us cringe at the thought and turns it into a positive experience. This not only inspires me to look at my life from a different perspective, but also helps me to understand what others are going through. .
Most people in this world look at life through a "the glass is half empty point of view." That is, we don't fully appreciate what we have. In fact no matter what we get there is always a part of us that wants more. For example, one of my good friends just had his six-month anniversary with his girlfriend. He took her out to dinner and bought her six long stem roses, one for each month they had been together. She put up quite a fuss about only getting half a dozen roses, totally missing the romantic gesture and symbolism involved. We tend to set certain expectations for special events and if these expectations aren't met we feel unsatisfied. When we should be grateful the other person did anything at all for us. Morrie has a much more optimistic outlook on life.
