Giving is living. That was the message New York Times best-selling author Mitch Albom delivered at the inaugural Rev. Dr. Robert Lawrence Lecture at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth on October 6. The talk focused on topics such as active citizenship and living a meaningful life.

“This is a difficult world,” said Albom. “The biggest challenge is how not to be cynical and cruel. Human connection is withering. We have to balance the world without losing that human connection; without it, it’s just digits and screens.”

Albom’s most popular book, Tuesdays with Morrie, was the center of his discussion. The book has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide and is published in 42 languages in 50 countries. He owns an orphanage in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, where he visits once a month, as well as ten libraries in the Philippines.

A man who doesn’t believe in notecards or a teleprompter, Albom told his story of Morrie Schwartz, a professor of his from Brandeis University and the subject of Tuesdays with Morrie, who Albom says taught him valuable life lessons that he holds dear to his heart.

“We forget our teachers,” said Albom, as he told the story of Schwartz making him promise to keep in touch even after he graduated. “I broke that promise every day for 16 years.”

But when Albom found out that Schwartz was diagnosed with ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease, and was quickly approaching death, he began to visit Schwartz every Tuesday. It was then that he began to learn what he had missed from life all those years.

Albom posed the question, “What do we know when we are really looking death in the face? That puts it into perspective.”

Albom explained that the older portion of society always wants to be young and envies the young and their youth. Schwartz told Albom: “Age isn’t a competition; inside me is every age I’ve ever been.”

Albom used a metaphor to describe life as sands in an hourglass. “Why do you think the other drops of sand in the hourglass aren't important?” he asked. “What’s important in the last [drop of sand] is just as important now.”

He stressed the importance of making time for people. “When you die, you’re not one-hundred percent gone. Your voice is inside those you make time for,” he noted. “Death ends a life, not a relationship.”

He also mentioned that the biggest way to cheat death was to give to those in need and display acts of kindness.

“Follow your heart,” said Albom. “It will never lead you astray. You have to live life as if you’re already on your final days on Earth. Accept that life is temporal.”

UMass Law student Ethan Dazelle was moved by Albom’s presentation.

“Not every speaker can convey sincere emotion,” said Dazelle. “I was very captivated by it. It had so much to do with my own life.”

Albom stated how society has confused faith with religion, and how we all tend to believe in something greater than ourselves.

“I’m a Jew and I run a Christian orphanage,” said Albom. “Everyone should coexist.”

While Albom touched upon various themes, a larger one was love, as he shared some of his own anecdotes.

“When you aren't exposed to love, you don't know how to practice it later on in life,” said Albom. “How can you express something if you haven't experienced it yourself?”

Diman Regional Vocational Technical High School Junior Graphic Design student Jessica Melo was in attendance, and described how many English classes were teaching Albom’s novels.

“I never cried and laughed so much in my life,” said Melo on Albom’s speech.

Also in attendance was Jay Burke, who played Morrie Schwartz in the Tuesdays with Morrie play at the Second Story Theater in Warren, Rhode Island, this past summer.

“The speech was beautiful and the feelings are so universal,” said Burke.

Burke said that no matter what age, race, ethnicity, and so forth, we’ve all dealt with similar ideas relating to life and death.

“Usually after a play, people shake hands and leave,” said Burke, “but after this play, everyone told me their own stories.”

Adding to the night’s emotion, the Angus A. Bailey Junior Main Auditorium, where Albom was speaking, was named after Burke’s uncle.

Two-hundred speakers were considered in the process of choosing who would participate in Lawrence’s lecture series.

“[Albom] is able to connect the intellectual with the emotional, [which] allows us to see the world differently,” said Assistant Vice Chancellor for Civic Engagement Matthew Roy, noting that Albom “delivered a powerful message for all of us: Live for today because no one is promised tomorrow. We must develop that gift and give it to others.”

The Rev. Dr. Robert Lawrence, the lecture series’ namesake, said he was honored that Albom was the first to speak in the series.

“These are issues that transcend all religions,” Lawrence explained. “He saw the power that we all can have, and he lived up to his writings and books. We need more of that.”

Following the lecture, Lawrence noted: “He didn’t preach a sermon. We lived a sermon.”

A portion of the ticket proceeds from the event will benefit student service projects through the UMass Dartmouth Leduc Center for Civic Engagement.