Every new person visiting me leaves back a part of him/her in the learning that I get, and this is the biggest gift of working for me.
This lady came to me some years back. Fragile and small built, she could be ignored if one were not captivated by the glow in her eyes. She was like a budding flower, enthusiastic, bright and full of life. Gently she sat and looked around, observing me, and I wondered what would I talk about, to this lady who has seen life more than I have, and whose understanding could be a learning for me.
She fumbled with the glass of water, ‘I’m so sorry, I’m so jittery. My hands do not seem to be in my control’. And her question to me was, ‘will I complete my graduation this year?’. I asked her what motivated her to get to college and study. She smiled, she said, ‘I always dreamt of college education, and now I am getting one’.
At eighty seven? I wondered! What would I speak? I was fumbling for words. She started talking on the latest cricket match being telecast with all the statistical details of all the current players. I laughed, and she went on, (I quote her words…)
“We do not stop playing because we grow 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 a nineteen year old and lie in bed for full one year, and don’t do one productive thing, you will turn 20. If I am 87, stay in bed for a year, and never do anything, I will turn 88. Anybody can grow older, that does not need a talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunities to change. Have no regrets. The elders do not have regrets for what they did, but for what they did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets.”. She was sipping the tea with a happy smile on her, enjoying every sip with contentment.
This was an incident that made me sit up and look at life from another angle.
Just last night I received the news of her passing away in sleep. In that one visit some five years back, she taught me to live life… she taught me..Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional
From this Love
Mystic marriage are born
the poets’ songs, inner knowledge,
the language of the heart,
ways of living,
and the fair child Beauty.
And the Great Love
gives to man as dowry
the hidden glory of the world.