As a sports reporter, Mitch spends a lot of time around celebrities much more wealthy then he is. Because of this, he finds himself getting jealous of these sports stars without even knowing it. “I stopped renting. I started buying. I bought a house on a hill. I bought cars. I invested in stocks and built a portfolio… I exercised like a demon. I drove my car at breakneck speed.” (p 16) Mitch, here, tells the reader of his becoming corrupted by the idea of “money = happiness.” It turns out he was wrong. Mitch was definitely unhappy with his life because he wasn’t doing what he wanted to do. But he had money, and that was all that mattered to him. So, when he begins to visit Morrie in New York every Tuesday, they were bound, eventually, to talk about money and materialism. During their eighth Tuesday together, Morrie mentions how people are brainwashed by currency and property. He tells Mitch about the cultural cliché idea that more money, more property, etc. is a good thing. Well, culture is wrong once again. People can have all the money in the world, they can own everything they have ever wanted, and more, but they won’t be happy. And that’s really what life’s all about, isn’t it? That is basically the lesson Morrie is trying to teach Mitch throughout the entire novel. Materialism has become a bad habit in society. Avoid the idea of buying your happiness and you avoid being unhappy. Money is not everything.