I have learned that the best classroom in the world is life itself. Life can change in an instant. We can learn from our experiences and from everyone around us. The challenge is to stop and listen what people have to say. Everyone has a story to tell.
             One cool fall evening I met a withering man that had a gentle spirit. He made people feel so comfortable when around him. His large body frame and big hands gave proof of a man that once was a strong gentle giant among men. Now he was disguised as a weak and fragile looking man who wrinkled further when he wore a smile revealing the teeth which were left in his mouth. The old man showed such care and love to everyone he met. He just needed someone to listen and someone to care for him as he moved closer to the end of his life, which was evident from his structural bend.
             Every day I would stop to talk with him. Feebly, he would always enlighten me with a story. The widowed man described his life as full with only memories left of his existence. He reminisced about a time when he and his wife repaired some old bikes and gave them to the poor children in their neighborhood. Some days he told war stories or stories of the depression or stories of hope or stories about his children. These were the memories that feasted in his mind.
             He captivated me in a short time. I felt responsible for his happiness in his last days. The once popular man was visited less and less as his pain grew more and more. Family and friends, whom he thought loved him, were nowhere to be found. His fear of being alone was becoming a reality.
             Dementia developed in his mind and the stories became harder to follow. He was lost in memory, living in the past, while reflecting as time grew short. "If I live to be old I hope to find my fate in my small country home. As my years pass by, I want to grow wiser about the important details of life. I want to be able to look out on the ocean and
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