A good story which was forwarded to me recently.
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My Name is 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 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 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.
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. God promises a sa fe landing, not a calm passage... If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.
My humble attempt and musing to grow up and hopefully be a better human being during this life time. I plan to share some of the books, writings, poems that have helped me grow up so far. Of course the journey continues till the last day. I would love to hear from the readers which books, writings, poems, anything else which have influenced them in their lives. ~~ I get lots of nice "forwarded" emails. The blog also serves as collecting pot of these selected stories & writings.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
Life..
Life is short
Break the rules
forgive quickly
laugh constantly
And never stop smiling
no matter how strange life is
Life is not always the party we expected to be
but as long as we are here, we should smile and be grateful.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: A Fable About Fulfilling Your Dreams & Reaching Your Destiny by Robin Sharma
Readers, I read this book during my recent rip to India. An interesting book which makes you ponder about how we lead our lives. A would definitely recommend to read it.
Robin Sharma is one of the world’s top experts on leadership and personal success. He is the author of 10 major international bestsellers, including The Greatness Guide and The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari. Robin is the CEO of Sharma Leadership International Inc., a global training firm whose clients include GE, Nike, FedEx, NASA, Unilever, Microsoft, BP, IBM, The Harvard Business School and Yale University.
Here's couple of detailed book reviews.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
માતા-પિતા
હયાત માતા-પિતાની છત્રછાયામાં, વહાલપનાં બે વેણ બોલીને નીરખી લેજો… હોઠ અડધા બીડાઇ ગયા પછી, ગંગાજળ મૂકીને શું કરશો… અંતરના આિશવૉદ આપનારને, સાચા હ્રદયથી એક પળ ભેટી લેજો… હયાતી નિહ્ હોય ત્યારે નત મસ્તકે, છબીને નમન કરીને શું કરશો… કાળની થપાટ વાગશે, અલિવદા એ થઇ જશે, પ્રેમાળ હાથ પછી તમારા પર કદી નહી ફ્રે… લાખ કરશો ઉપાય, એ વાત્સલ્ય લહાવો નિહ્ મળે, પછી દીવાનખંડમાં તસ્વીર મૂકીને શું કરશો…
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