最近,我的 conversation partner Renee 介绍给我了这本叫作 《Tuesdays with Morrie》的书,薄薄一小本,很快就读完了。
书的作者叫 Mitch Albom, 曾经是一名体育记者,曾经在 Detroit Free Press 工作,后来成为了一名作家。书的主人公是作者上大学时关系很好的社会学老师 Morrie Schwartz。作者毕业后,整整十六年没有见过这位老师,再一次听到老师的消息竟然是在电视节目里得知老师生了重病。于是 Mitch 回去看望他的老师,他们的见面都安排在了星期二。在 Morrie 去世后,Mitch 把他们每个星期二谈话的内容写成了一本书,于是就有了这本《Tuesdays with Morrie》,中文译本的名字叫《相约星期二》。
十六年之后的重逢,Morrie 在和 Mitch 聊天的时候问他:Have you found someone to share your heart with? Are you giving to your community? Are you at peace with yourself ? Are you trying to be as human as you can be?
在这些星期二的见面中,他们聊了很多的话题:about the world, about feeling sorry for yourself, about regrets, about death, about family, about emotions, about fear of aging, about money, about love, about marriage, about our culture, about forgiveness, etc.
这本书在 Morrie 去世后出版了,这些星期二的见面改变了作者的人生轨迹,引用作者在书的末尾的一段话:
"I look back sometimes at the person I was before I rediscovered my old professor. I want to talk to that person. I want to tell him what to look out for, what mistakes to avoid. I want to tell him to be more open, to ignore the lure of advertised values, to pay attention when your loved ones are speaking, as if it were the last time you might hear them. ….
None of us can undo what we’ve done, or relive a life already recorded. But if Professor Morris Schwartz taught me anything at all, it was this: there is no such things as “too late” in life. He was changing until the day he said good-bye."