The Rose
Bette Midler
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 a chance
It's the one who won't be taken,
Who cannot seem to give
And the soul, afraid of dyin',
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
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 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.
These words have been passed along in loving memory of ROSE.
REMEMBER, GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY.
GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL.
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