'Tuesdays With Morrie’ Author Mitch Albom | Super Soul Sunday S8E10 | Full Episode | OWN

Summary

On the 20th anniversary of Tuesdays with Morrie, Mitch Albom talks with Oprah Winfrey about how his relationship with former professor Morrie Schwartz changed his priorities and outlook on life. Albom originally wrote the small, repeatedly rejected book to help pay for Morrie’s medical bills. Its success grew from Morrie’s reflections on love, loss, aging, and death.

Albom recalls returning to see Morrie, who was dying from ALS, after seeing him on television. Their Tuesday visits became a final class on what matters. Morrie’s calm acceptance of his illness and attention to other people contrasted with Albom’s former work-focused, ambitious life. Albom says the experience made him more willing to listen, more aware of others’ suffering, and less afraid of death.

Lessons and Reflections

• Forgive to free yourself. Morrie urged Albom not to let anger or old disputes separate people; being “right” matters less than preserving a relationship.
• Resist pressure to follow the culture’s measures of success. Morrie challenged expectations around wealth, appearance, status, and career, encouraging people to find meaning through relationships, community, generosity, and creativity.
• Give rather than focus only on what you can get. Morrie said, “Taking just makes me feel like I’m dying; giving makes me feel like I’m living.” Albom says money and power cannot substitute for tenderness or the comfort of loved ones.
• Make time for people and stay connected. Albom regrets not calling Morrie sooner and urges people not to assume they will always have another chance to speak.
• Treat time as precious. Remembering that any conversation could be the last can help people decide how they want to treat others.
• Value family and care for one another. Morrie saw family as a source of security, and Albom describes caregiving as part of the human responsibility to “carry” one another.
• Use challenges as opportunities to wake up. Albom reflects that setbacks, illness, loss, and other crises can prompt people to reconsider their priorities.
• Ask yourself whether something truly matters. Albom says this is a useful question to revisit regularly.
• Live with purpose and show love. Albom suggests that people ultimately want to know they mattered, were loved, and are loved.

Charitable Work

Albom also shares how Morrie’s lessons influenced his charitable work. After the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, he became involved with an orphanage and has continued supporting children there. He and his wife, Janine, cared for Chica, a Haitian child with a brain tumor, as part of their family. Chica’s faith and courage remained meaningful to Albom after her death.

Notable People, Places, and Works

• Speakers: Oprah Winfrey and Mitch Albom
• Morrie Schwartz: Albom’s former professor at Brandeis University and the subject of Tuesdays with Morrie
• Locations: Haiti, Detroit, Boston, and Brandeis University
• Works mentioned: Tuesdays with Morrie and The Five People You Meet in Heaven
• Others mentioned: Janine, Albom’s wife; Chica, the child he and Janine cared for; and Morrie’s wife, Charlotte, and sons, Jonathan and Robert.