A crowd of roughly 700 turned out at UB Center for the Arts Friday to hear sportswriter Mitch Albom speak about life, death and lessons learned of the two men who inspired him.
Those men were his uncle Ed--who was the inspiration for the character Eddie in Albom's best-selling novel "The Five People You Meet In Heaven"--and Morrie Schwartz, from the popular memoir "Tuesdays With Morrie."
"They weren't rich. They weren't famous. They were just nice old men," Albom said. "They spent their time being kind and loving."
Albom said life isn't about working, spending time trying to get beautiful, making money or racking up a list of accomplishments.
"Your money, they're just gonna fight over when you're gone. Your beautiful body, no matter how buff, is going to rot in the ground right next to the fat guy. Your list of accomplishments, no matter how impressive, will pale in comparison to the next guy that comes along."
Life is about finding and sharing that voice that is you, Albom said.
"It's every tender moment you share with somebody else."
Albom never prepared for the speech. The reason, he said, was that the stories he had to share were forever imbedded in his heart and in his head. A six-foot, 360-pound football player named Bubba, and a sportswriter who needed a quick line after Bubba threw up in his lap as he slept on an airplane also inspired the lack of preparation.
The football player awoke to the sportswriter's quip, "You feeling better Bubba?" The audience roared with laughter.
"How am I going to dishonor a tradition like that with a prepared speech?" Albom asked.
The evening carried on in just that way: thought-provoking sentiment coupled with humorous anecdotes.
Albom said he's met a lot of people in the past eight years who have lost someone close to them and were told by others to get on with their lives.
"The heart is an amazing thing. It's big enough to hold the affection we feel for people in our memories, in our thoughts."
That's true of people who are here and people who are gone, Albom said.
"I'd love to believe that maybe it goes over to the other side."
Those who are gone live on in those whose lives they touched, he said.
"When you're dead, you're not a hundred percent gone," he said. "But you must invest in those relationships while you're here."
We have complicated lives these days, Albom said, mentioning students and teachers specifically.
"If you have these moments-what's it all about? What should I do? What's the path I should lead in my life? Follow your heart. It will not lead you astray."
That's what Albom did when he rekindled an old relationship with his former sociology professor, Morrie. The subsequent memoir, "Tuesday's With Morrie," started out as a way to help with Morrie's medical bills but turned into a best-selling phenomenon and ABC movie produced by Oprah Winfrey.
Albom said he views Morrie as someone who lived life to the fullest. In his better days, he danced. He was happy just reaching a handful of kids as a teacher, Albom said. After the initial shock of being diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Morrie found something positive and decided to teach his last lesson in dying.
"He talked. He invited people in. He taught. He reached people," Albom said.
When Albom wrote "The Five People You Meet In Heaven," he wanted to do a story that was the opposite of Morrie's, someone who was uneducated and going nowhere. Uncle Ed, a common man and war veteran, might have been viewed as such a person. But to Albom, he was special.
"There's no such thing as a nobody. There's no such thing as a nothing," he said.
One day, everyone will wonder over the same kinds of questions the character Eddie did.
"Will we be remembered? Did I live a meaningful life?"
Over 200 people lined up for a book signing following the speech.
"It's incredible that a sportswriter can write such an inspiring book," said Laura Klein, a teacher who attended the event. "It just kind of confirmed life. It confirmed your purpose in life, which is to help others."
"Everyone's important and we touch all sorts of people's lives and we don't even realize it," said Amy Lyons, who works at the university library.
"As he was speaking, parts of your life are passing by," said UB alumnus Janine Fitzpatrick. "You're thinking 'Am I working too much? Am I spending enough time with family and friends?"
The event reminded many audience members of people they have lost, like Yeelin Ng who lost her grandmother.
"We have to think about sharing with people around us. We have to think more about giving," said Ng, a sophomore business major. "People you meet are important. If you don't touch their lives, when you're gone, you won't get a chance to."



