Tuesdays with Morrie

As it says on the book's back cover, Tuesdays with Morrie is "a magical chronicle of their time together", the word 'their' referring to the author/journalist Mitch Albom, who goes back to revisit his old university professor to discuss life.

It's a book that I find myself dipping in and out of from time to time, as the lessons remain so particularly relevant to all of us, and serves as a great moral and spiritual compass, with that good old-fashioned advice that is passed down the generations.

So, as someone who has always been captivated by the teachings of village elders, I sought to follow in Mitch's footsteps and I interviewed my father's dearest childhood friend, a sprightly 85-year-old retired ex-railway worker (who left school at the age of 11). 

My chat lasted about an hour and took place on just the one day and during that time I tried to cover many of the topics from the book. For the purposes of this post, I will dwell on what I thought was the standout point that this remarkable man made to me. 

Are you happy with your lot?

The closest translation (from the Italian) that I could find would be something akin to being happy with your lot. We hear this quite often in many different guises, for example when we're told to count our blessings. 

Here was a man with no regrets who was extremely happy with his life's 'opus', what he had achieved in life and would do it all over again. The word envy did not exist in his vocabulary and the only thing he might 'begrudge' his fellow man was their peace of mind.  

Throughout our conversation I kept getting little reminders about this, almost as if he wanted to make sure that I got the message. "It's important that we don't expect manna from heaven", "Starting from an honest base without having too many big ideas", "I think what I've achieved is sufficient". There were other examples. 

His life philosophy I think was best summed up when I asked him if he would rate his life a 10 out of 10. To which he replied, "Well, I think we could all settle for a nine".

Shouldn't we all just lower the bar a bit generally, be happy with what we have and above all with who we are? If it means peace of mind, then surely it's a price worth paying. Message received loud and clear.