"An 87 Year Old College Student Named
Rose"
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, and 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 revelled 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 humour 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 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 .
When you finish reading this, please send these
peaceful words of advice to your friends and family, they’ll really enjoy it! 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."
Author
Unknown.
The Rose
Some
say love, it is a river, that drowns the tender reed
Some say love, it is a razor, that leaves your soul to bleed
Some say love, it is a hunger, an endless aching need
I say love, it is a flower, and you, its only seed
It's
the heart afraid of breaking, that never learns to dance
It's the dream afraid of waking, that never takes the chance
It's the one who won't be taken, who cannot seem to give
And the soul afraid of dying, that never learns to live
When
the night has been too lonely and the road has been too long
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong
Just remember in the winter, far beneath the bitter snows
Lies the seed, that with the sun's love in the spring
becomes the rose
