Love or Perish
In the book “Tuesdays with Morrie,” by Mitch Albom, Mitch recalls the time spent with his professor, Morrie Schwartz, at Brandeis University, who was dying from Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS). After neglecting Morrie for several years, Mitch begins to visit Morrie every Tuesdays to listen to Morrie's lessons on "The Meaning of Life." Each of Morrie's lessons contributes to a larger, all-encompassing message that is in the absence of love, there is a hole that can be filled only by loving human relationships. Morrie says when love abounds; a person can experience no higher sense of fulfillment. Throughout his Tuesday lessons with Mitch, Morrie reveals that love is the essence of every person, and every relationship, and without it, living life is pointless.

We as humans need to feel a sense of belonging and acceptance, whether it comes from friends or family. According to psychologist, Abraham Maslow, humans yearn to love and be loved by others. In the absences of these needs, many people become prone to loneliness and depression. Humans need for love places emphases on the point that love is not only essential, but important to everyone. “I may be dying, but I am surrounded by loving, caring souls. How many people can say that?” (pg 36, Morrie). For Morrie, the importance of love is especially clear as he nears his final days, for without the thorough care of those he loved, and who love him, he would not have lived as long as he did. Morrie clings to life not because he is afraid of dying or because he fears what will become of him in the afterlife, but because his greatest dying wish is to share his story with Mitch so that he may share it with the world. Morrie holds on just long enough to reveal the core of his story, then releases himself to death, leaving Mitch and his audience with the message that love brings meaning to experience, and that