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MAYONNAISE JAR and TWO CUPS OF COFFEE
When things in your life seem almost too much to
handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough,
remember the mayonnaise jar and two cups of coffee.
A professor stood before his philosophy class and had
some items in front of him. When the class began,
wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty
mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf
balls.
He then asked the students if the jar was full. They
agreed that it was.
The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and
poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly.
The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the
golf balls.
He then asked the students again if the jar was full.
They agreed it was.
The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured
it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up
everything else.
He asked once more if the jar was full. The students
responded with an unanimous "yes."
The professor then produced two cups of coffee from
under the table and poured the liquid into the jar,
effectively filling the empty space between the sand.
The students laughed.
"Now," said the professor, as the laughter subsided,
"I want you to recognize that this jar represents your
life. The golf balls are the important things - God,
family, children, health, friends, and favorite
passions -- things that if everything else was lost
and only they remained, your life would still be full.
The pebbles are the other things that matter like your
job, house, and car.
The sand is everything else -- the small stuff.
"If you put the sand into the jar first," he
continued, "There is no room for the pebbles or the
golf balls The same goes for life. If you spend all
your time and energy on the small stuff, you will
never have room for the things that are important to
you."
"So...
Pay attention to the things that are critical to your
happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get
medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner.
Play another 18. There will always be time to clean
the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf
balls first -- the things that really matter. Set your
priorities. The rest is just sand."
One of the students raised her hand and inquired what
the coffee represented . The professor smiled. "I'm
glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no
matter how full your life may seem, there's always
room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend."
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The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error. ~John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, 1859
Education: that which reveals to the wise, and conceals from the stupid, the vast limits of their knowledge.
~Mark Twain
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Mayonnaise Jar And Two Cups Of Coffee, Not really a short story, but very nice.
