Outside Reading-Week 1 Post A

VOCAB-

amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (7): "Lou Gehrig's Disease" an incurable disease of unknown cause in which progressive degeneration of motor neurons in the brain which causes lose of muscle control that gets progressively worse and eventually results in death.



aphorisms (18): a tersely phrased statement of a truth or opinion.



APPEALS-



1) "Morrie knew something bad was coming long before that. He knew it the day he gave up dancing"(5). This is an interesting quote because it makes you curious to know (if you haven't read the book) what is wrong with Morrie. Also, it makes the reader sort of curious about Morrie's dancing because not many old people dance to any kind of music, even Hip Hop. It gives you a spirited view of Morrie because of his dancing and not caring what other people thought of it. It kind of makes the reader think that they can do whatever they want and shouldn't have to care what other people think about them.



2) "No grades were given, but there were oral exams each week. You were expected to respond to questions, and you were expected to pose questions of your own. You were also required to perform physical tasks now and then, such as lifting the professor's head to a comfortable spot on the pillow or placing his glasses on the bridge of his nose. Kissing him good-bye earned you extra credit. No books were required, yet many topics were covered, including love, work, community, family, aging, forgiveness, and, finally, death"(1). This gives an idea of what Morrie's class was like and what type of man he was. The reader can sort of conquer that he was a philosophical man, with the having to impose your own questions, also, he was all about life. He taught a class about life. You can kind of tell that he doesn't just give straight out facts about life, but he does teach about the great things in life all of us will go through. Not only that, but it also makes the reader wish that all their classes were that easy and as interesting, at least in my opinion...



3)" Then Morrie says something that haunts to this day. ' You know how I'm going to die?' he said. I raised my eyebrows. ' I'm going to suffocate. Yes. My lungs, because of my asthma, can't handle the disease. It's moving up my body, this ALS. It's already got my legs. Pretty soon it'll get my arms and hands. And then when it hits my lungs..."(36). Morrie is so matter-of-fact about his death that he explains it to Mitch, his student, and it doesn't seem to bother him to know that that is how he is going to die. It is interesting because not many people are willing to face the facts in a time of death, but Morrie has made somewhat of a peace with his death.



QUOTE-



"...Morrie wasnot like most of us. When some of his clase colleagues would visit, he would say to them, 'Listen, I have to pee. Would you mind helping? Are you okay with that?"(11).