Morrie's Touchy Class

In this excerpt Mitch is having a flashback to one of Morrie’s classes. This is one of the classes that Mitch calls the “touchy-feely” class because of all the team building ideas and peer interaction. This particular activity that is being described is usually referred to as “trust fall” because you are trusting your partner to catch you when you fall. Morrie’s class which he calls “Group Process” is rather uncomfortable with these exercises that Morrie puts together for them. But this isn’t about Morrie’s class, it’s about Morrie.
This passage exemplifies the faith that Morrie places in others and the trust he has for everyone that they will catch him when he’s falling. Morrie says, “Sometimes you cannot believe what you see, you have to believe what you feel. And if you are ever going to have other people trust you, you must feel that you can trust them, too - even when you’re in the dark. Even when you’re falling” (61) This quote shows that Morrie has faith in feeling and trust. This is what Morrie says
after the girl who trust falls into her partner and is caught. Morrie shows that in order for there to be trust you must first trust others otherwise no bond will be built. You must have faith in others to show that they can put their faith in you. Morrie carries on this leap of faith mindset throughout his day to day life.
Morrie also has a sense for people and how they will act and react.
One of the reasons he is able to sense how people will react to things is because of some of his sociology classes that study human emotion and reaction. The other half of his ability to feel for people is a given trait of Morrie’s. When reading “Tuesdays with Morrie” you feel as though you are able to connect with Morrie even though you’ve never met Morrie and don’t know him on a personal level. He emits a feeling and sense of comfort and gives you ability to talk to him and to show him the person you are or want to be without a fear of judgement and prejudice. In this passage from the book Morrie knows exactly why the girl in the fisherman sweater was able to trust her partner all of the sudden. Almost instantaneously after she was caught Morrie says, “You see, you closed your eyes. That was the difference” (60). Morrie knew that the girl closing her eyes was the key the second it
happened.
Morrie’s “gift” was not just faith in people or knowing the actions of people, Morrie’s gift was people. He knew how to talk to people and knew how to make people talk to him. He taught a sociology class which was based on people. He taught people, he interacted with people, and Morrie was a people person. This kind of sounds like an obituary to Morrie and in a way it is. This small, short, miniscule, passage of “Tuesdays with Morrie” can tell you so much about who Morrie is and was that reading the whole book will make you connected with him is a way beyond belief. He says all the things that everyone else thinks but won’t say and is the person we should all aspire to be.