Post 6: Mitch Albom and the Dark Matter of Death.

Post 6: Mitch Albom and the Dark Matter of Death.

I cannot possibly know what death is for me, until it happens. No matter how many variations of death I experience, it is still this “unknown” to me. Engrossed in what I cannot see? Yes. Some people choose to go, others are surprised by when or how a departure happens, and bystanders are caught up in a myriad of forms and levels of investment as death comes for each one of us. We all will inevitably die, at this point in our scientific understanding of death, but there are obsessions about how one controls death and rules in place for ways it is illegal and legal to take one’s own or another person’s life, beyond sickness and war. I once questioned why suicide was illegal when the person committing it was dead if it was successful, which brought up a whole list of possibilities. Here’s a little info if you are curious. (The legality of suicide) There are few things more compelling and influential than being faced with a “life-threatening” experience of any kind. This thing beyond sight, beyond intimately knowing, is a type of dark matter. The artist or story teller using it holds a common power and varies its use in a story for its intended impact.  Each and every one of us, depending on the individual fears of our morality and death, can be impacted by this dark matter. The not-knowing or not-seeing makes it more impactful in at least some cases. However, if we are watching someone else die, it may improve our level of knowing and reduce the fear, depending on context and story structure.

I was struck with interest for a new-to-me writer when asked to do the voice-over of a jazz singer for a play called Tuesday’s With Morrie, by Mitch Albom, his first novel which was then adapted for stage and then screen (with Jack Lemmon and Hank Azaria in 1999, forgive the dated and hallmark spin and check it out here).  You may also recognize his novel-turned-screenplay, The Five People You Meet In Heaven, or other book titles and movies made for TV. In these two and his For One More Day, I have found this particular dark matter topic, death, to resurface in all of them with different treatments based on the differing stories drive and direction. However, it seems common that Albom examines death from a perspective of life, since he is still living, while using subjects that are facing experiences near or around death both in real and fictional scenarios. Seeing that his initial book sparks this dark matter, it is interesting to see it’s treatment differ from story to story but still surface readily as if he is trying to pin it down more effectively with every new treatment.

Mitch Albom’s Tuesday’s With Morrie, a video description of the play and the production for the Drayton Festival Theatre in London four years ago. The first three minutes are the most useful. (Drayton Festival Theatre)

In Mitch Albom’s Tuesday’s With Morrie, Mitch Albom, a former jazz pianist turned sports journalist and novelist reconnects with a former college professor, Morris Schwartz, after seeing him interviewed by Ted Kopple regarding his adjusted take on life in light of being diagnosed with ALS. Ted Kopple’s intended “one off” interview with Morris turned into three interviews as a result of his popularity. Mitch, after traveling from Detroit to Boston to reconnect, decides to make the trip to visit Morrie every Tuesday until Morrie’s passing, learning much about life and Morrie’s opinions on death, the dark matter I would propose is a necessary and driving part of this story. Their renewed connection as a result of Morrie’s impending death reminds me to not take time or distance for granted with my health and the health of those I love.  In Albom’s story, Morrie hosts his own funeral toting that if people have something nice to say he wants to hear it while he’s still alive. He wants to connect before death, so that death has less impact. When your body is dead, the relationship is not dead. It lives on in those whom you’ve had an impact. Perhaps, in that way, this dark matter impacts, in the satisfaction or lackthereof of relationship wholeness with those who are most dear. I dig the way his writing seems human, flawed, ugly, vibrant and full of joy, as any relationship I strive to  have so that it makes death easier to swallow in real life.

If you want to know the whole story in a few minutes, give this a read. The Story Summary.  

Just in case the embedded links don’t work:

Tuesday’s With Morrie Story Summary: https://www.litcharts.com/lit/tuesdays-with-morrie/summary

The legality of suicide: https://www.advisory.com/daily-briefing/2014/03/25/is-killing-yourself-a-crime-states-grapple-with-suicide-laws

Drayton: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=3X6A10-MEHs

Tuesday’s With Morrie Official Movie Trailer: https://www.mitchalbom.com/videogallery/tuesdays-with-morrie-official-trailer-1999/