Playing with Rats
Suggestive Games1
Suggestive Games2
Good Stress
Travel With Rats
Literature
First Day at School
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.