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by
Mitch Albom
You’re lucky to get a family to sit down for a meal together.”
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Shubham Goel
It is far more comforting to think God listened and said no, than to think that nobody’s out there.”
“My friends, if we tend to the things that are important in life, if we are right with those we love and behave in line with our faith, our lives will not be cursed with the aching throb of unfulfilled business. Our words will always be sincere, our embraces will be tight. We will never wallow in the agony of ‘I could have, I should have.’ We can sleep in a storm. “And when it’s time, our good-byes will be complete.”
Much of what we called “depression” was really dissatisfaction, a result of setting a bar impossibly high or expecting treasures that we weren’t willing to work for.
“That’s right. The things society tells us we must have to be happy—a new this or that, a bigger house, a better job. I know the falsity of it. I have counseled many people who have all these things, and I can tell you they are not happy because of them.
“Be satisfied.” That’s it? “Be grateful.” That’s it? “For what you have. For the love you receive. And for what God has given you.”
“I have what I need,” he said, surveying his messy shelves. “Why bother chasing more?”
What profits a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his soul?
What do you do when death’s natural pecking order puts you in the front of the line, when you no longer can hide behind “It’s not my turn”?
The second death. To think that you died and no one would remember you.
Our young people post their deepest thoughts on public Web sites. They run cameras from their bedrooms. It’s as if we are screaming, Notice me! Remember me! Yet the notoriety barely lasts. Names quickly blur and in time are forgotten.
“In the short run,” he said, “the answer is simple. Family. It is through my family that I hope to live on for a few generations. When they remember me, I live on. When they pray for me, I live on. All the memories we have made, the laughs and the tears.
“Ifff . . . I’ve done a good jobbb, then I’ll be remembered one generation, maybe two . . . but e-ven-tu-allllly . . . they’re gonna say, ‘What was his naaame again?’”
“If they’re communicating well, they have a good chance. If they have a similar belief system, similar values, they have a good chance.”
“Love—the infatuation kind—‘he’s so handsome, she’s so beautiful’—that can shrivel. As soon as something goes wrong, that kind of love can fly out the window.
“That kind of love—the kind you realize you already have by the life you’ve created together—that’s the kind that lasts.”
“I think people expect too much from marriage today,” he said. “They expect perfection. Every moment should be bliss.
“Because the word ‘commitment’ has lost its meaning. I’m old enough to remember when it used to be a positive. A committed person was someone to be admired. He was loyal and steady. Now a commitment is something you avoid. You don’t want to tie yourself down.
you should be convinced of the authenticity of what you have, but you must also be humble enough to say that we don’t know everything. And since we don’t know everything, we must accept that another person may believe something else.”
“No, I say. You knew me. You knew that person, but you don’t know the person that I’m trying to become.”
“When you give, you get,”
But it’s not me against the other guy. It’s God measuring you against you.
If you could pack for heaven, this was how you’d do it, touching everything, taking nothing.
“You know, in our tradition, we ask forgiveness from everyone—even casual acquaintances. But with those we are closest with—wives, children, parents—we too often let things linger. Don’t wait, Mitch. It’s such a waste.”
“Nothing haunts like the things we don’t say.”
Anytime you try and justify yourself with works, you disqualify yourself with works.
with a little faith, people can fix things, and they truly can change, because at that moment, you could not believe otherwise.
