FW: rose
Ichiro Terao
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 teased.
She jokingly replied, "I'm here to meet a rich
husband, get married,
have a couple of children, and then retire and
travel."
"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
te 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 have 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 19 years old and lie in bed for one full
year and don't do one
productive thing, you will turn 20 years old. If I
am 87 years old
and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I
will turn 88.
Everybody will 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.
If you read this, please send this peaceful word of
advice to your
friends and family, they'll really enjoy it ! We
send these words in
loving memory of ROSE.
Remember, GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY, GROWING UP IS
OPTIONAL.
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