Many Forms of SacrificeSacrifice, as we know it, is something we give up for the sake of a better cause. When we care about something or someone, we act voluntarily, and sometimes unknowingly, out of altruism. 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 shed light on his life. As he learns 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 is sacrifice. A sacrifice happens without knowing it. Eddie travels through a pumpkin-colored sky and then finds himself in a color-changing yellow sea. Eddie immediately feels at peace and is no longer in pain. He thinks about the little girl he's trying to save on the pier. Arriving at his final destination, he wakes up in a cup of tea. The setting takes Eddie back to the pier when he was a child. The first person Eddie meets in Heaven is Joseph Corveltzchik, also known as the Blue Man. Joseph comes from a poor Polish family, and as a child, Joseph often becomes nervous and encounters many problems. Hoping to cure his nervousness, he takes a poison which ends up turning him grayish blue. Although Eddie does not know the Blue Man, he is able to make a connection when the Blue Man's death is revealed to him. As a child, Eddie chases a ball in the street, causing the Blue Man to swerve his car to avoid hitting Eddie. While swerving his car, the Blue Man is involved in 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 of 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 on the pier: "No pulling...pushing," "Pushing her legs." No traction. You push. A big thing falls. You protect her” (192) and tells her that the little girl survived because Eddie sacrificed his life to save her. Sacrifice comes with a goal to acquire something better. It can be big or small, courageous or not, whether we win or lose something, it is a valuable lesson to learn and achieve. We sacrifice for those we love and we sacrifice for strangers. People influence us in ways that cause us to see sacrifices made and accomplished in many forms. Sacrifice takes the form of death, loyalty, love, friendship, etc. Ultimately, sacrifice plays a crucial role in everyone's life and should be seen as something that helps shape our lives. individual character.