Does Everything Happen for a Reason?
Hi, everyone. This is my first post in this community. I consider my self as a reader but I don’t always read that many books. In a year, I usually read only about 20 books or less😁 But like most of us, I remember book that make an impact on me. Wether it’s a wake up call, self improvement, or simply inspiring in some way.
For me, this book is one of them. Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom. This book is about 83 years old man named Eddie who lives alone with his injured leg from war. His wife and parents have passed away and he has no children. He work at the amusement park called Ruby Pier with the responsibility of maintaining the rides and making sure they are safe to use.
He is so lonely and doesn’t have zeest for life anymore. He actually wanted to get out of Ruby Pier, find a new job and a new life. But he felt too old to do that so he basically just floating through life and surrender as it will go on like that.
That day went like any other day, except one of the rides called Freedys Free Fall, the cabin was tilted. There were some command errors that caused the cabin ended up fall. Eddie tried to save a young girl who is near the ride and he ended up getting crushed by the cabin. This is not even a spoiler because interestingly enough, this book starts with the first chapter called “The End”
Eddie wakes up in “heaven” and we follow him as he meets five people who will tell him stories that are in line to the events that Eddie experienced in his life, but from different perspective. For me this is fascinating to read because he doesn’t really meet the people that he known throughout his life. Eddie doesn’t even know some of these people exist at all, but it turns out they indirectly influenced his life and vice versa.
I will try to write about those five people without giving too much context so you don’t get spoilers. So here are the five people that I meet throughout the book, and try to give a name for each of them according to my perspective when I read about them all:
A Stranger
This is really the beginning of Eddie’s journey when the first person he meet is a complete stranger he has never seen before. But it is actually their second time meeting each other. From this first person, we will learn about life and death—how both doesn’t happened randomly but connected, from one person’s live to another person’s death. For me the story of their first meeting doesn’t really represent the message that this book want to convey, but I can understant it.
In this era that only celebrates big events, I feel like its little bit underrated to be grateful for one of the most basic things, that I’m still breathing today. It’s a cliche, but who knows when I should have met my death earlier in this life. But instead I was replaced by someone else and I was given the opportunity to live the days again. I learn that maybe nothing happens by chance, it just depends on how our perspective look at the things that happened to us.
A Savior
Eddie’s leg is injure because of the war. I can’t really remember that he thought it was caused by the enemy or something, but from this second person, Eddie know the truth. This second person that he meet is someone he really respect. And this person tell Eddie about how and why Eddie had to lose one of his leg (or the idea of losing its function) in order to be given something else. From this second person, I learn that in order to get something, we have to sacrifice another thing. Or we can rephrase it—maybe we lose something in order to get another thing. Its always somewhere in between.
An Owner
The relationship between Eddie and his father is hardly good. Eddie’s father potrayed as drunkard, a gambler and an abusive man. Eddie will never forget his father’s harsh words, and gets angry whenever he think about it. The third person Eddie meet isn’t his father, but someone connected to his workplace, Ruby Pier. It may seems like a random person to include to the story, but its not.
The relationship between parents and their children will always be complicated, and sometimes anger will make things worse. Often enough we misunderstand our parents words or advices, even though they may only convey what they think is right in hope that we don’t take the wrong decisions. But maybe its just the way they convey it doesn’t suit our preferences. This third person teaches us about “forgiveness”—how holding onto anger is a poison and hatred is a double-edged sword. I often think that acceptance and forgiveness would make things easier and would also lighten of our load in some ways.
A Lover
The forth person is one of the most important role for Eddie—he loves this person very much. If the previous person taught about “forgiveness” in a relationship, this one person teaches about the importance of “compassion”—how it will be the root of a strong and longlasting relationship. There is not much to write, because the memories that Eddie has with this person is so touching to read. It may also a reminder that no matter how bitter life could get, there’s must be moments that we can be grateful for and it will be sweet memories to remember for the rest of our life.
An Ender
Here is the best plot twist. This fifth person told Eddie something like “you burn me” which is suprising, but that’s might be true. As much as Eddie hates his boring job and life, this last person he meets gives a completely different view of it. From this last person, I learn that the job we have right now, the environment we live in, and the people we accompany at the moment, maybe all of those are things that are destined for us to go through. Maybe what we are living now is the result of our past life decisions or mental preparation for the life to come, who knows?
Its not a self-development book with life hacks or anything like that, but the idea of the story is really help to see things from another perspective so that I can appreciate life a little bit more in every ways. This beautiful story can illustrate how everything does happen for a reason.
I hope I can give tell this book content clear enough without giving a spoiler. Thankyou so much for reading, appreciate it :)
I've been to that library's courtyard but never been inside of it. This book is something one has to read in a lifetime. Thank you for posting in our bookclub! see you around here 😊
I write about the library a while ago. I'm not sure you will like the atmosphere there, but I hope you can check that out in your next visit to Surabaya😁 thankyou for create this community! I'll try to be more active :)
Whenever I read Mitch Albom's books, I ended up crying.
I think the only one I didn't cry was "The Two Doors"
wow so you've read a lot of his books? Im just curious, did Tuesdays with Morrie have an impact on you?
Yes it does, half way through I was bawling already.
Also reminded me about the Japanese series "one litre of tears" regarding ALS
Ohhh... The whole going to heaven concept makes me really want to read it. Particularly, meeting the ender. I feel this kind of book will have a great impact on the reader. I look forward to reading it
Thankyou for reading my post :) I highly recommend you to read this book, maybe the last person will surprise you too😁