Tuesdays With Morie- Work

When we first started the movie Tuesdays with Morie, the very first thing I realized about Mitch was how obsessed with work he was. It was clear how much his work and his striving for achievement over took his life and influenced every aspect of his life. For instance, Janine, his girlfriend, was fed up with Mitch nearly the entire movie because of how work obsessed he was. In the beginning of the movie, I thought that Mitch's work was going to cause him to only visit Morie a few times here and there, and that he would get easily distracted because of his work. Luckily, Morie had such a positive effect on him that he got ahold of his life and what was important to him. All it took was slowing his pace of life down, and taking time to "smell the roses." Morie taught Mitch about the difference between simply going through the motions of your life, and actually enjoying your life, which Mitch eventually learned how to do. I think that Mitch's character in the beginning of the movie: the work obsessed, always striving for achievement go-getter, is the exact replica of so many Americans today. Sadly, I think that we as Americans learn to have this attitude even in middle school and junior high. All throughout school when grades begin to matter, children are taught to always strive to be the best in their class, and work as hard as they can to get the best grades possible. Sadly, these ideas are carried with these young Americans forever, where they bring this demeanor to the work place. My brother's girlfriend just began teaching, and was telling us how upset parents got when progress reports came out for their kindergartner's. Yes, children in KINDERGARTEN are already receiving grades, AND parents are already concerned if their children is not performing well. How could a kindergartner possibly not perform well? What are they even being graded on: how well they can build blocks and paint a picture? It just goes to show that more and more kids are being molded at a young age to strive to achieve the most that they can, and those ideals are carried with them for the rest of their lives.