Growing Old is Optional

Once when I was stopped at a set of traffic lights in Bogotá, in a hurry on my way to where I was due to give a conference, a woman approached the car and told me that her daughter was very ill with flu so bad that she couldn’t breathe. The girl was inside a cardboard box on the pavement, protected from the cold by just a few sacks and newspapers. “I’ll come back later and help you”, was all I said to the woman in my rush. On the way back I saw a big crowd gathered at the traffic lights. The woman was there crying, with the girl dead in her arms. She came up to me, looked me in the eyes and said: “You didn’t believe me that my daughter was ill and couldn’t breathe. My little girl is dead.” No one can imagine the pain I felt. That night the remorse ate away at my soul. I blamed myself for not having done anything, for having been so indolent. All these feelings attack us when we fail to act. The indifference and apathy of the majority causes more harm than that minority which plants bombs, kills, kidnaps, extorts and destroys our beloved Colombia. Do not put off until tomorrow what you can do today. Tomorrow it may be too late to give and to share what you appreciate most, and the people who need you might not be there. There is always someone who needs a loving word, a strong hug, a gentle caress, a sweet smile. Perhaps they have always been at your side and you have failed to realise. Remember that charity begins at home. So act today so that, when time passes and your last days are approaching, you do not repent what you failed to do. Growing old is obligatory but growing up is optional.