Hi Frenz...
Recently, a friend of mine joins the club of bankrupts after his computer business failed... I was at his shop helping him to clear his stuff out from the premises, as the landlord would be repossessing the premises soon...
He had this built-in fish tank there, that saw a fine collection of marine rocks, pebbles and sand that he wanted to keep... so, we started packing them...
While we were at it, the look on his face reminded me of the day before The Stop-Over Pub closed... that empty feeling of having everyone deserting you.... the hurt of losing everything that you had slogged for... it was like deja vu... I could feel what he was feeling... it isn't something that anyone could understand or empathize...
I was thinking real hard as how to comfort him. I thought of a story that I've heard long before and picked up a large empty mayonnaise jar. I started filling it with the marine rocks. After filling it to the brim, I asked him if the jar was full and he nodded expressionlessly to agree that it was.
Then, I picked up the pebbles and poured them into the same jar with the rocks, shook the jar lightly and the pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks. I winked and then asked him again if the jar was full now. He laughed and agreed that it was again.
Then I scooped up the sand and poured it into that same jar. Of course again, the fine sand filled up everything else. Finally, I took two mugs of water, poured it in and it soaked up the sand till nothing can fit in anymore...
"Now," I said to him, "the jar is fully filled and do you know what this represents?"... he shook his head.... I told him that the jar represents his life... The rocks are the important things... family, wife, health, children - anything that is so important to him that if it were lost, he would be nearly destroyed...
The pebbles are the other things that enriches his life.... like his career, his house, his car - all the things that he slogged for...
The sand is everything else... all the small stuffs (like the expensive grandfather's clock collecting dust there) that are nice to have but really.. quite insignificant in our lives....
Then I told him that if he put the sand into the jar first, there would be no room for the pebbles or the rocks. The same goes for his life... If he spends all his energy and time to focus on the small stuffs, he would never have room for the things that are more important to him...
So.... I told him that though he had failed terribly in his business, he shouldn't take it so hard... that he should stay focus on the 'bigger' things in his life and build on them instead... He should pay attention to the things that are critical to his happiness....
I continued by telling him, "Go... Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your wife out dancing. Make love. There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, attend a meeting, play pool, etc.... Take care of the rocks first - the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.... they are just like the icing on the cake that looks nice but adds little to the taste... but there are many who pay so much attention and they search all over for the right icing they wanna buy, that they forgot about the basic ingredients that makes the cake"...
Yes, he may be soon a bankrupt... but as long as he doesn't lose himself... as long as he still has the rocks of his life, he's still a wealthy man in many aspects... its how he views "wealth"...
Having said that, he gave me a big hug and with teary eyes he said, "Buddy, you're damn right... Now I can understand how you pulled thru all those crisis in your life"... then he looked at me again in a puzzled manner and asked... "But... what's with the water then?"...
I replied... "Ah... that's to show that no matter what happens, there always room for a beer or two"... and we both chuckled again....
Well, for all you guys out there whom are going thru a rough patch, hang in there... no storms last forever... the sun will come out sooner or later and we can all come out to play once again after that...
(KPNN-Gossips)
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