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Tuesdays with Morrie

In the South American rainforest, there is a tribe called the Desana who see the world as a fixed quantity of energy that flows between all creatures. Every birth must therefore engender a death, and every death brings forth another birth. This way, the energy of the world remains complete.

When they hunt for food, the Desana know that animals they kill will leave a hole in the spiritual well. But that the hole will be filled, they believe, by the souls of Desana hunters when they die. Were there no men dying, there would be no birds or fish being born. I like this idea. Morrie likes it, too. The closer he gets to good-bye, the more he seems to feel we are all creatures in the same forest. What we take, we must replenish.

"It's only fair," he says.

I read Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom in one two-hour sitting. At the end, I cried so hard that I almost fell out of the chair I sat on. About ten minutes later, I took a cab and bought the laptop I'd been pondering for several weeks. Life is so short, you need to make sure you're living the best way possbile and enjoying it thoroughly. Here is today's excerpt.