Ms. Pang Yee Ha  1  2 3

What is the meaning of life? This is a frequently asked big question that haunts most people. If you are one of them who are still searching for the answers, Tuesdays With Morrie definitely can provide you with experience, wisdom and insight of seeing the world.

This book is a magical chronicle of how Morrie Schwartz, an old college professor, helped Mitch Albom, a famous sports columnist who was at his 40s, to see the world as a profound place, and gave him sound advice to assist him make his way through it. Mitch lost contact with Morrie for nearly twenty years after graduating from the college and rediscovered him in the last few months of the older man’s life. Knowing that Morrie was dying, Mitch visited him every Tuesday. The regular visit turned into one final class, in which lessons in how to live were given by the old professor.  

In this final class, a wide range of topics about life were covered, including love, work, community, family, aging, forgiveness, and death. Morrie shared his views upon them with Mitch without reserve. Just to mention a few, he believed that the most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in. Family is the foundation and the secure ground, upon which people may stand. Without the support, love and caring that people get from a family, they do not have much at all. He was not afraid of dying for he considered that once he learnt how to die, he learnt how to live. About those people who always feel sorry for themselves, he thought that they should put a daily limit on self-pity and concentrate on all the good things still in their life. Mitch benefited much from the invaluable experience of his teacher, which made him regain the courage to face his life.   

This book is really an incredible treasure for all people. If you want to lead a meaningful life, it is worthwhile for you to spend some time to read it.

Do you have any dreams?  Have you ever thought of making them come true?  If not, The Alchemist will definitely give you some inspirations of how to realize your dreams. 

The Alchemist is ‘an adventure story full of magic and wisdom’.  The main character, Santiago, is an Andalusian shepherd boy.  One night he got a strange dream in which he finds a treasure buried in the Pyramids.  In order to search the treasure, he sells all his sheep, leaves his homeland in Spain and goes to North Africa.  Along the way he meets a beautiful, young gypsy woman, a man who calls himself a king, and an alchemist, all of whom point Santiago in the direction of his quest.  No one knows what the treasure is or if Santiago can overcome the obstacles along the way through the desert.  But his perseverance makes him find the real treasure of life finally.

Although the story is quite short and simple, the real messages it brings are undoubtedly of great values to all of us.  They surely can be served as the guidelines in our life.  There are numerous meaningful lines that are worth remembering, such as ‘life is the moment we are living right now’, ‘each performs its own exact function as a unique being’, ‘when we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too’ … etc.

Are you easy to give up your goals?  Or you still do not know the direction of your life?  Then you should spare some time to read this story.  You will learn how to cherish what you own right now because ‘where you are, and that is where your treasure is’.

By the way, why is the book named ‘The Alchemist’?  Look for the answer in the book yourselves!

Do you know any people who have a form of mental illness called autism?    If not, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time will definitely help you understand parts of their inner thoughts.

The book is about a 15-year-old boy called Christopher John Francis Boone.  He lives with his father.  Although he is autistic and lives in his own world, he has good memory and has special talent in Mathematics.  He knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7057.  He relates well to animals.  However, he has no understanding of human emotions.  He cannot stand to be touched.  And he detests the colour yellow.

One day, a dog of Christopher’s neighbour, Mrs Shear, was killed mysteriously.  He determined to find out who the murderer was.  During the process, he discovered that his father told him an unforgivable lie.  Being deceived, he got angry with his father.  He made up his mind to leave him and move to live with his mother, who was in London.  Since he had never been to London before, he met a lot of difficulties on the way.  He used his own methods to overcome all the problems that he came across, and found his mother finally.  As he only concerned himself and ignored others’ feeling, his sudden arrival not only brought along lots of trouble to his mother but also re-generated the conflicts between his parents.

Reading this book, readers will surely find it amazing to experience the ways that Christopher tackles all the difficulties.

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