Chapter 5: The Sixth Tuesday

The reason I chose this chapter about emotions is because everyone has them. We can't hide them. We can't turn them off like a light (which is where we differ from Data in Star Trek). Everyone has good and bad emotions. Good days and bad days. Good times and bad times. Sometimes we feel silly, and some of us embrace it, while others try to hide it. Sometimes we feel drowsy, and end up being clumsy and ending up on the ground laughing, or shaking everybody off in sweatpants and a hoodie. We all act differently, based on personality and our emotions.

I wondered while reading The Sixth Tuesday, was the fact Morrie would detach himself from his emotions. I seemed strange to me that Morrie would do this. Morrie kept talking about being fully immersed in his life and family and friends right now, because who knows how long he had. The thought, Why would he want to detach himself from his emotions? ran through my mind for a long time and then it hit me. We don't want to feel fear forever. We don't want to feel bad forever. We need to feel better and remember the emotions that we had so we can have the courage to do them later.

Albom learned the meaning of detachment in this chapter. He learned that you need to fully immerse yourself in an emotion before you can walk away from it. "Put it on like a familiar shirt, then walk away." It's kind of ironic what people do: we recognize the fear, but we're afraid to admit that we're afraid. Kinda stupid.

I learned how to detach myself from my emotions. Sometimes I get caught up that I might fail, that I get flustered and I never even try. When it comes to getting up in front of people, I'm fine . . . most of the time. I remember that I've been to 4-H State Field Day at UC Davis because of my presentations for four years in a row (not to brag), and I feel just fine. I breathe, and continue. Now that I think about it, that's sorta my way of detaching from my emotions: breath and continue. Life goes on.

The important I would take away from The Sixth Tuesday would be that we need to let go. I remember one time going on a weekend trip during Spring Break last year with a church. I remember the pastor talking about a church he once worked at. There was an old woman who would clean up afterward, and she always seemed grumpy, dragging herself about the pews. One day he walked in and she was smiling and bouncing about the place. He asked her what happened, and she responded with, "My daughter just called me last night to say she forgives me. I haven't talked to her in 10 years!" The pastor went on to saying that you need let go of your "stones," because eventually, you might be that old lady grumpily trudging yourself around the place. To quote the most annoying, yet most loved, Disney movie since The Lion King -- Let it go. Ecclesiastes 11:10 says, "So then, banish anxiety from your heart and cast off the troubles of your body, for youth and vigor are meaningless."