Tuesdays with Morrie: Final Project

"Don't cling to things, because everything is impermanent."

Without Tuesdays with Morrie  a large variety of aphorisms are offered to us from the point of view of Morrie. Without a doubt, I feel that the aphorisms offered throughout "The Sixth Tuesday - We Talk About Emotions" speaks in volumes. Throughout the sixth week of Mitch's class with Morrie, they speak of detachment. Morrie informs us of the importance of detaching one's self from the objective world. Morrie informs us that by detaching ourselves from the materialistic world allows us to be fully penetrated by the experiences we have lived and that of others.  In order to be fully penetrated by these experiences, Morrie says, "Don't cling to things, because everything is impermanent." This ideology, offered by Buddhists, means that if we would like to truly experience the world, we mustn't let ourselves be held down. In the world we reside in, it is easy to hold onto the materialistic world, but we cannot live this way. We must understand the importance of letting go the materialistic side of life and experiencing all of life, the good and the bad.

A song that I believe that relates to, "Don't cling to things, because everything is impermanent" is "Wings" by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. The song itself is based upon feelings upon anti-consumerism told from the view of a young boy. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis tell the story of a boy who grew to have an intense love for shoes. For this boy, the shoes he wore had made him feel unique, he also felt that they enhanced his ability to play. After a series of events that the boy experiences such as when his friend's brother is killed for shoes, "my friend Carlos' brother got murdered for his Fours, whoa." The boy's who life is detailed in the song demonstrates the pain that materialistic things may cause (though all things will not lead to death) due to our clinging. We must see that, such as Morrie says, clinging to objects, especially those that give us short term happiness is not for the better. We must learn to see that anything we hold onto at some point will be taken away such as the shoes in the music video or such as the sand in the image of my aphorism. 

Personally, I believe this aphorism to be rather telling and inspiring. I feel that it can be taken into account when dealing with both the subjective world (memories) and the objective world (shoes, clothing, money, etc.) The quote contains a great truth that I completely agree with both out of personal experience and the experience of others.  Morrie seems to show a great dependence upon this aphorism as he says, "if you don’t allow yourself to go all the way through them—you can never get to being detached, you’re too busy being afraid." As we read the story we see the importance of controlling emotions for Morrie. The older man seems to always make a point of properly handling his feelings by never letting them overwhelm him. I feel that this ability is the key to live a happy life. By detaching oneself and by not clinging to things we are able to truly understand the lives we live, which will in return, help us improve our lives. 

Personal Aphorism: Lead your own life or others will lead it for you.