Many Forms of Sacrifice Sacrifice, as we know it, is something we give up for the sake of a better cause. When we care about something or someone, we voluntarily and sometimes unconsciously act altruistically. In the book The Five People You Meet in Heaven, written by Mitch Albom, the main character, Eddie, dies only to have five encounters that shine a spotlight on his life. In the process of learning why he meets these people, each character also teaches him valuable lessons that help him understand the meaning of his life; among the many lessons, one of these is sacrifice. A sacrifice comes unknowingly. Eddie travels through a pumpkin-colored sky and then ends up in a yellow sea that changes color. Eddie immediately feels at peace and no longer suffers. Think of the little girl he tries to save on the Pier. Having reached his final destination, he wakes up in a teacup. The setting takes Eddie back to the docks when he was a child. The first person Eddie meets in heaven is Joseph Corvelzchik, also known as Blue Man. Joseph comes from a poor Polish family and as a child Joseph often gets nervous and encounters many problems. Hoping to cure his nervousness, he takes a poison that eventually turns him greyish blue. Although Eddie does not know the Blue Man, he is able to make the connection when the Blue Man's death is revealed to him. As a child, Eddie runs after a ball in the street causing the Blue Man's car to swerve to avoid hitting Eddie. While swerving his car, the Blue Man gets into a car accident. He gets out of the car alive, but because he is in so much shock, he has a heart attack and dies. Eddie, astonished and ashamed at how he could have caused the accident, apologizes profusely and finds himself...middle of paper...(191). Tala reveals the answer to Eddie's question about the little girl at the dock: "No pull... push", "Push her legs. No pull. Push. Big fall. Keep her safe" (192) and tells him that the little girl survived because Eddie sacrificed his life to save her. Sacrifice has a purpose that acquires something better. It may be big or small, brave or not, whether we gain something or lose something, it is a valuable lesson to learn and gain we sacrifice for our loved ones and we sacrifice for strangers. People influence us in ways that lead us to see sacrifices given and made in many forms. Sacrifice comes in the form of death, in the form of loyalty, in the form of love. in the form of friendship, etc. Ultimately, sacrifice plays a crucial role in everyone's life and should be considered as something that helps shape our individual character.