Mitch Albom's The Five People You Meet In Heaven

Many people believe that life goes by fast, often times, too fast. Throughout the average seventy years of life, one wonders over and over what their purpose is on the Earth and how they could make the planet better. Mitch Albom portrays Eddie in the same way through his book, The Five People You Meet in Heaven. During the late years of his life, Eddie sees no purpose in his job at the pier. After all, he had never chosen the lifestyle, it was expected of him as his father became ill. Eddie does not learn what his purpose is until his journey after his death. By reading, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, one can learn that communities are intertwined, life doesn’t last forever, forgiveness is always possible, and that we don’t always see the bigger perspective.
Eddie learns this lesson from the first person he meets, the blue man from the freak show at Ruby Pier. Eddie learns from the blue man that he was the main factor in the blue man’s death. One year on his birthday, Eddie was playing with a new baseball with his brother outside. The ball went into the street and Eddie chased it into the street to get it, not realizing the car coming towards him. The blue man was in the car which caused him to eventually lose control of the car and crash since his heart was too weak to handle the surprise. This illustrates that careless actions can create tragedy within a community. Eddie was not aware of the oncoming car, which led to death. In the same way that careless actions can cause tragedy, thoughtful actions can cause a community to become better. Just one person can make a change that would have multiple benefits for the people around them. A real world example of this is a supreme court judge that is the deciding factor in a case that could change a whole country for good. If everyone is thoughtful of their actions, everyone would be