The other side of the looking glass
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
One of my teachers started class with this story yesterday.
The Jar
A science teacher was teaching his philosophy class when he pulled out a glass jar full of golf balls.
“Is the jar empty?” He asked his class.
“Yes” they all seemed to answer hesitantly.
The professor then pulled out a bag of pebbles and poured them into the jar. Once again he asked his class if the jar was full, and again they all replied “yes”. Seeing a theme building, the class started to get suspicious. The professor again pulled something out of his supply closet, this time it was a jar of sand. He poured it into the glass jar and once again asked his class if the jar was full and again they ominously replied “yes”. The professor then shut the jar and explained to the class:
“You see, the jar represents life. The golf balls represent the big things in your life: your friends, your family, the things your life would still be full with if you didn’t have anything else to turn to.” He continued.
“The pebbles represent the things in life you need, like your car, your job, and the other things in life you could live without. The sand represents all of the little things in life that we really don’t need but have anyway.” A student then raised her hand and asked:
“Do the two cups of coffee on your desk mean anything special?”
“Oh, I almost forgot!” He replied enthusiastically.
He opened the jar again and poured in both cups of coffee thus filling in any air in the jar.
“The two cups of coffee mean that no matter how full your life gets, there is always time for a couple friends to sit and talk over a cup of coffee.”