The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom

1060 Words3 Pages

Many Forms of Sacrifice Sacrifice, as we know it, is something we give up for the sake of a better cause. When we care about something or someone, we willingly and sometimes unknowingly act on selflessness. In the book, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, written by Mitch Albom, the main character, Eddie, dies only to have five encounters that shine a spotlight on his life. In the process of learning why he meets these people, each character also teaches him valuable lessons that help him understand the significance of his life; among the many lessons, one of them is sacrifice. A sacrifice comes unknowingly. Eddie journeys through a pumpkin-colored sky and then winds up in a yellow sea that changes color. Eddie immediately feels at peace and is no longer in pain. He thinks about the little girl he tries to save on the Pier. Reaching his final destination, he wakes up in a teacup. The setting takes Eddie back to the pier when he was a child. The first person Eddie meets in heaven is Joseph Corvelzchik, also known as the Blue Man. Joseph comes from a poor Polish family, and as a child Joseph often gets nervous and encounters many problems. In hopes to cure his nervousness, he takes a poison that eventually turns him greyish blue. Although Eddie does not know the Blue Man, he is able to make a connection when the Blue Man’s death is revealed to him. As a child, Eddie runs after a ball into the street causing the Blue Man to swerve his car to avoid hitting Eddie. In the process of swerving his car, the Blue Man gets into a car accident. He steps out of the car alive, but because he is in so much shock, he has a heart attack and dies. Eddie astonished and shamed at how he could have caused the accident, apologizes profusely and be... ... middle of paper ... ...(191). Tala reveals the answer to Eddie’s question about the little girl at the pier, “ No pull…push,” “Push her legs. No pull. You push. Big thing fall. You keep her safe” (192) and tells him the little girl survived because Eddie sacrificed his life to saved her. Sacrifice comes with a purpose that acquires for something better. It can be big or small, courageous or not, whether we gain something or we lose something, it is a valuable lesson to learn and attain. We sacrifice for loves ones and we sacrifice for strangers. People influence us in ways that leads us to see sacrifices given and be done in many forms. Sacrifice comes in the form of death, in the form of loyalty, in the form of love, in the form of friendship and etc. In the end, sacrifice is a crucial role in everyone’s life and should be considered as something that helps shape our individual character.

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