Learning activity 4

Evidence: Wisdom comes with experience

“It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old; they grow
old because they stop pursuing dreams.” Gabriel García Márquez.

In different countries, the elderly is considered repositories of wisdom. In Colombia,

that might not be the case. Let’s change that. Think about one time where an
elderly person gave you a piece of advice that you still treasure. That person might
be a relative, an acquaintance, or a fictional character. Write a story about the
event. Make sure reported speech is the key component of your composition.

“You don't have the time you think you have.”

This story took place in Bogota 9 years ago, in the house of my grandparents. I
had gone visiting they with my mom of as usual every weekend. it is an old box
with 3 floors, my grandfather was then 68 years old and my grandmother 65. by
those years my grandfather was terribly sick; he had diabetes and my grandmother
was taking care of him they were very hardworking and live in a placid state of
acceptance and gratefulness that is only attainable through experience. Every
weekend we would visit them, and we spent those days together as a family. I
used to always play with my grandfather and we would show up to eat and sleep.
My grandfather and I were inseparable, and he was always my playmate; That
afternoon we were playing hairdresser and among so much emotion, I accidentally
cut his hair, my grandfather and I didn't laugh but my mother heard us and started
yelling at me: she told me that life was not a game, and that I was hurting him, she
said he felt too sick to be bothered and she told me not to play with it. I was very
sad because of what my mother had told me and aware of what I had done, I cried
non-stop, my grandfather; he told me I looked sad and asked me if I wanted to talk
about it. I said no. he waited for my mother to leave and when we were alone, he
said something very wise: "Life is made of moments. If happiness is not eternal,
neither is sadness.

After this, he asked me if I wanted to go on a new adventure and I said yes. He

took me to the patio and showed me my grandmother's bicycle when I was a child,
he told me that now it was mine and that if I wanted to conquer the world, I had to
learn how to ride it. And I climbed up again and again and again, but I always fell,
and from doing so many times I gave up and sat down to cry, he looked at me and
told me it was ok to feel that way and also he told me: “You tried. You failed. Never
mind, try again. Fail again. Fail better. I stopped crying and rode a lot more, until
that same afternoon I learned to ride alone.
Then in the night after dinner, my grandfather got very bad, he could not even get
up, he was very bad, my mom and grandmother began to cry and pray thinking
that maybe he would die. I went to him and he told me with a last breath" And
although you don't have the time you think you have; you must take advantage of it
and enjoy it until the last second." then he fell asleep. that day my grandfather
taught me 3 great lessons for what has been my life: the 1 both happiness and
sadness are not eternal. the 2 you must always try things and even if you fail, you
must know how to fail, and the last and most important; life is too short to waste it.