CluELeSs & Co

An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer-contractor of his plans to leave the house-building business and live a more leisurely life with his wife enjoying his extended family. He would miss the paycheck, but he needed to retire.

They could get by. The contractor was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could build just one more house as a personal favor. The carpenter said yes, but in time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work.

He resorted to Shoddy workmanship and used inferior materials. It was an unfortunate way to end a dedicated career. When the carpenter finished his work the employer came to inspect the house. He handed the front-door key to the carpenter. “This is your house” he said, “my gift to you.”

The carpenter was shocked! What a shame! If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently.

So it is with us. We build our lives, a day at a time, often putting less than our best into the building. Then with a shock we realize we have to live in the house we have built. If we could do it over, we’d do it much differently. But we cannot go back.

You are the carpenter. Each day you hammer a nail, place a board, or erect a Wall. “Life is a do-it-yourself project” someone has said . Your attitudes and the choices you make today, build the “house” you live in tomorrow. Build wisely!

In the US…

• If you miss a flight, you can catch the next flight (of the same air carrier) without having to pay like in India.
• Laundry means rinse and dry. You don’t have to hang the clothes on a cloth line for them to dry.
• You need a shower curtain not to hide yourself bathing, but to not allow the water to spray on the bathroom tiles. That’s the secret of the spic and span flooring.
• You use toiler paper not to save water, but to keep up the efficiency. The toilet paper is then flushed off and not thrown into the dustbin.
• You open the door on the left side if you are the driver, and drive on the right side of the road.
• If you break a signal and danger a pedestrian’s life, you are fined. If you have a green signal and a pedestrian comes your way, you are still fined. Pedestrian first!
• If you miss one diversion on the highway, then you are a goner for at least another 3 miles!
• If there is a 286, 287 A, 287 B, 288, then that is because there was a new diversion road discovered between the 286 and 288, and hence 287 has got to split up into 287 A and 287 B.
• Your dogs pee on the road or in the park, you are fined. Where the hell do they pee?!
• It isn’t “well cultured” if you don’t drink. It is an insult if you don’t accept a beer being offered!
• You need an International Driving Permit (IDP) from India, which is valid for a year in the US and you can drive with that or use it to apply for the learner’s license (Written test to be passed). You can apply for the learner’s license even without an IDP. The permanent license (Driving test to be passed) can be applied for immediately after acquiring the learner’s license.
• A hard cover version of the book is costly. The international edition of the same book comes at 50% of the price.

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 safe landing, not a calm passage.
If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.
“Good friends are like stars………You don’t always see them, but you know they are always there.