Find latest started threads
COPIED FROM A WEBSITE
*********************
The first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged
us to get to know someone we didn't already know. I stood up to look
around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder. I turned around to find a
wrinkled,little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her
entire being.
She said, "Hi handsome. My name is Rose. I'm eighty-seven years old. Can
I give you a hug?" I laughed and enthusiastically responded, "Of course
you may!" and she gave me a giant squeeze. "Why are you in college at
such a young, innocent age?" I asked. She jokingly replied, "I'm here to
meet a rich husband, get married, have a couple of kids.." "No
seriously," I asked.
I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge
at her age. "I always dreamed of having a college education and now I'm
getting one!" she told me.
After class we walked to the student union building and shared a
chocolate milkshake. We became instant friends. Every day for the next
three months we would leave class together and talk nonstop. I was
always
mesmerized listening to this "time machine" as she shared her wisdom and
experience with me. Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus
icon and she easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress
up and
she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students.
She
was living it up.
At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football
banquet. I'll never forget what she taught us. She was introduced and
stepped up to the podium. As she began to deliver her prepared speech,
she dropped her three by five cards on the floor. Frustrated and a
little embarrassed she leaned into the microphone and simply said, "I'm
sorry I'm so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent and this whiskey is
killing me! I'll never get my speech back in order so let me just tell
you what I know."
As we laughed she cleared her throat and began, "We do not stop playing
because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing. There are only
four
secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success. You have
to laugh and find humor every day. You've got to have a dream. When you
lose your dreams, you die. We have so many people walking around who are
dead and don't even know it! There is a huge difference between growing
older and
growing up. If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full
year and don't do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old.
If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do
anything I will turn eighty-eight. Anybody can grow older. That doesn't
take any
talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding the
opportunity in change. Have no regrets. The elderly usually don't have
regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only
people who fear death are those with regrets."
She concluded her speech by courageously singing "The Rose." She
challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our daily
lives. At the year's end Rose finished the college degree she had begun
all those years ago. One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in
her
sleep. Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in
tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it's never too
late to be all you can possibly be.
These words have been passed along in loving memory of ROSE.
REMEMBER, GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY. GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL.
We make a Living by what we get, We make a Life by what we give.
