Helen Lagerblade

Dear Mr. Alborn,

"The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in." That quote from Morrie is something I will always remember. I read it over and over again as I was reading Tuesdays with Morrie. The book changed my life by making me think about my actions and thoughts. Even though I didn't go travel the world and made a huge stand, I still changed lives around me. Trying to do that is so hard for me being a quiet person, not showing my emotions to most people. It has come to be something I try to live by along with many other things that Morrie helped show me.

I was never the most giving kid around. I was always more concerned about myself and what was the best for me. I respected and listened to the adults because that was how I was raised, but I always felt like I never got respect back. I used to think it was because they didn't like me but two years ago my thoughts were changed. "This is how you start to get respect, by offering something that you have." After reading that, I realized that whether it was giving my honest opinion on something or just helping someone who needed it, you get the respect that we all deserve and want. I was also changed by learning that I just need to be myself around everyone. I don't need to mold into the modern culture today. That's when I started deciding the big things in my life for myself not by what others would think of me because of it, but by my beliefs.

In trying to please everyone, I lost myself and what certain people meant to me. Morrie opened my eyes even more by saying, "Love is how you stay alive, even after you are gone." To me that wasn't talking about life and death, it was talking about me in the present and future. It made me think about my friends and why they were by friends.  Was it because we were inseparable or was it because that's who I was trying to be because they were "the cool crowd?" The answer to that was I was trying to be someone I wasn't. After reading that, I changed my friends little by little because it was easier for me that way and it didn't raise questions.

One of the hardest things for me to do is to forgive others along with myself. But Mr. Albom, your book as made it a little easier for me to do, by reminding me that we always don't have time to. The part when Morrie is talking about not forgiving his friend, reminded me of moving from Phoenix, Arizona to Des Moines, Iowa without forgiving some of my friends that I now haven't seen since I moved four years ago. That has always been one of my regrets but you also helped me understand that we shouldn't regret things because they only hold us back more. I now realize when something is similar that I have already done before I second guess myself more and think about it when I should just "go with the flow" in the situation.

With reading the book 4 times, I find more and more that I can take away from it. Whether it radically changes my life or just makes me think differently, it has changed my life for the better. It helped me learn to appreciate life, love others, and forgive and forget, all of which that made a huge difference in my life.

Sincerely,
Helen Lagerblade