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OPRAH: I think of all the lessons that he shared
with you, I read where giving is living was one of
the ones that impacted you the most.
MITCH: It is. It was. It is. I still remember
exactly why he told me that. Because I used to watch
other people go in to visit Morrie. And they would
frequently have, like, a plan. Like I'm gonna tell
him funny stories. I'm gonna show him pictures.
I'm not gonna talk about his death. Not gonna talk
about illness. And they'd go in, the door would close,
they'd come out an hour later in tears.
OPRAH: Uh-huh.
MITCH: But they'd be crying about their divorce,
their love life, their job, whatever.
And I said, what happened? They said, well, I don't
know. I went in to try to cheer him up,
but after a couple minutes, he started asking me
about my life and then -- and then I opened up --
OPRAH: He made everybody feel a better version
of themselves.
MITCH: And he cheered them up. So I went to him and
I said, I don't get it. You know, you've hit the
mother lode of sympathy here. You're dying from ALS.
You can say, let's not talk about your problems.
And you can be justified. Why don't you do it?
And he looked at me as if I was an alien.
And he said, why would I ever take from people like
that? Taking just makes me feel like I'm dying.
Giving makes me feel like I'm living. I never forgot
that. It also rhymes so it's easy to remember.