Golf Balls & Beer

[GordMay]

GOLF BALLS & BEER:

Standing in front of his class, a philosophy professor picked up a very large, empty jar, and filled it with golf balls.

He then asked his students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then poured a box of small pebbles into the jar, shaking them so that they rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. Again, he asked if the jar was full. The class agreed it was.

Next, he shook a box of sand into the jar. Asking the same question, he got the same reply; “yes, the jar is full.”

Finally, the professor emptied two cans of beer into the full jar.(laughter)

“Now,” said the professor, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things - your family, your health, your friends, and your 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 to you, like your job, your house, your car, or your boat. The sand is everything else - the little things in life.”

“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 little things, you will never have room for the things that are really important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your well-being and happiness. Take care of the golf balls first, those things that really matter. Set your priorities, realizing that the little things are just sand.”

One of the students raised her hand, asking; “what the beer represented.”

The professor smiled. “I’m glad you asked. It just goes to show you that, no matter how full your life seems, there’s always room for a couple of beers.”

FWIW

Gord

[rakuqueen]

Gord May,

That was wonderful. We were just talking about our lives and what we do next.
We moved onto the boat last week, Jim is having some second thoughts. This story just put things in perspective, and what is realy important.
Cold Beers!!

Jane

[delmarrey]

That's a good one Gordmay. I think I'll add that one to my book of fables. I've also posted a couple from my book that might strike a spark. Very common events in human nature.

BTW, what about the guy that fills the jar with the two beers first. It that the guy that stop at the local pub on the way home and forgets to go home?

[GordMay]

Delmarrey:
I know from experience, beer doesn't come in "two's" - so if you start with the beer first - you may either:
1. Not get to the golf balls & pebbles at all...
or
2. You'll spill a lot of beer, trying to add golf balls...
(I've done both )

Regards,
Gord

[CSY Man]

Aye Mr. Gordmay:

You are right on, beer does not come in one or two...
That would be like being a little bit pregnant......
With my Norwegian genes knocking heavily on the thirst sensor, I either drink beer or I do not...

Speaking of beer, surely all of ya studs know about the "Purity Law" when it comes to brewing beer.?

Only 4 countries in the world have this federal law on brewing:
Norway, Denmark, the Chezk Republik and Germany.
According to the law, beer can only have 4 ingridients, yeast, hops, malt and water....(If memory serves me right after a couple of six-packs..)
Therefore, less hang-over, less chemicals and taste encanchers and foam this and sweet Budweisser that.
Drinking beer from them 4 countries will keep ya straight.
(Don't get confused out there, Heineken is Dutch and have 7 ingridients, good tasting the brew is, but ya get a world class hang over the the next day...Trust me, been there done that.
Try Carlsberg or Tuborg instead, ya get a mucher finer buzz and no hang over, or if ya really want to go first class, try "Mach Øl", made in Norway and a fine brew for yer pleasure.....)

As for doing the beer before the golf-balls, yes that could be a problem, who remembers the blacksmith in "Moby Dick" ?
Lesson to be learned for sure.

In the meantime, "Skål" and lets pop another one

[sail_the_stars]

Benjamin Franklin once said:

"God gave us beer because he loves us and wants us to be happy."

That's all I remember from college myself. Thanks for the great story, Gord.

sail_the_stars

[Troubledour]

The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings. Perhaps it's the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to rise, or maybe it's the unbounded joy of not having to be at work. Either way, the first few hours of a Saturday morning are most enjoyable.

A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the basement ham shack with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other. What began as a typical Saturday morning turned into one of those lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time. Let me tell you about it. I turned the dial up into the phone portion of the band on my ham radio in order to listen to a Saturday morning swap net. Along the way, I came across an older sounding chap, with a tremendous signal and a golden voice.

You know the kind; he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business. He was telling whomever he was talking with something about "a thousand marbles." I was intrigued and stopped to listen to what he had to say.

"Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you're busy with your job. I'm sure they pay you well but it's a shame you have to be away from home and your family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet. Too bad you missed your daughter's dance recital" he continued. "Let me tell you something that has helped me keep a good perspective on my own priorities."

And that's when he began to explain his theory of a "thousand marbles."

"You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about seventy-five years. I know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about seventy five years. "Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3900, which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime. Now, stick with me, Tom, I'm getting to the important part. It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail", he went on, "and by that time I had lived through over twenty-eight hundred Saturdays."

"I got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy. So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to round up 1000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside a large, clear plastic container right here in the shack next to my gear."

"Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out and thrown it away. I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life. There is nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight.

"Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign-off with you and take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure that if I make it until next Saturday then I have been given a little extra time. And the one thing we can all use is a little more time."

"It was nice to meet you Tom, I hope you spend more time with your family, and I hope to meet you again here on the band. This is a 75 Year old Man, K9NZQ, clear and going QRT, good morning!"

You could have heard a pin drop on the band when this fellow signed off. I guess he gave us all a lot to think about. I had planned to work on the antenna that morning, and then I was going to meet up with a few hams to work on the next club newsletter. Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up with a kiss. "C'mon honey, I'm taking you and the kids to breakfast."

"What brought this on?" she asked with a smile. "Oh, nothing special, it's just been a long time since we spent a Saturday together with the kids. And hey, can we stop at a toy store while we're out? I need to buy some marbles..."