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Rose |
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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. May 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.
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