Mitch Albom on lessons learned from "Tuesdays with Morrie"

Back when "Sunday Morning" senior contributor Ted Koppel was at ABC News, they produced three "Nightline" programs with a retired university professor who was dying of ALS (often known as Lou Gehrig's disease). "Some mornings I'm angry and bitter," said Morrie Schwartz. "But it doesn't last too long. Then, I get up and say, 'I want to live.'" Schwartz: "Don't let go too soon, but don't hang on too long; find a balance. … The disease is not going to get my spirit. It will get my body. It will not get my spirit." Morrie: "Mitch?" Mitch:  "Yes?" Morrie:  "Look at me." Mitch:  "You're smiling." Morrie:  "I love you." Mitch: "Come on."

What they could never have anticipated was that those conversations with Schwartz would become among the most popular programs they had ever done. And that, it turned out, was just the beginning. Because among those viewers was a young sportswriter, Mitch Albom.

"I had been so close to him in college," he told Koppel. "I took every class he offered. I promised him the day I graduated that I would always stay in touch, and then I broke that promise. So for me it was a question of, 'Oh, my God, he's dying. What do I do now?  And how do I try to make up for what I haven't done in the past?'"