Monthly Musings
On this page you will find an article each month submitted by one of the WORK PLACE CHAPLAINCY Scotland Team. Normally it will be topical and reflect the area of chaplaincy undertaken by the contributor.
STOP THE WORLD: I WANT TO GET OFF
And
THE MAYONNAISE JAR
In the 1966 a play opened on the London Stage - STOP THE WORLD - I WANT TO GET OFF - a thought-provoking tale about the fleeting nature of worldly success. The hero of the show Littlechap attempts to apply some braking effect on his world before it spins out of control
.
Littlechap thought he was more perceptive than the other actors in the stupendous, non-stop circus life; he was a natural, surely, for the role of ringmaster. Littlechap's ambitions were clear. He would make himself rich - a thousand a week, say - and carry out holidays to Cannes, Capri and attend Royal Ascot. He would rise up from his bed-sitter off the Brompton Road to show this mighty, menacing world that he was a little more equal than all the other equal men.
Littlechap managed to bring into his grasp just about every challenging conquest which had swollen out and coloured his earliest dreams. He could command the attentions of an interminable number of women with what he liked to think of as a brilliant suaveness of his tongue; he could sway quite discerning constituents and white-haired cabinet ministers alike by the alacrity of his political debating; he could always speak (without fear of contradiction) to his Fellow Members of Snob’s ... but he never found the power and strength to make himself, his wife, his two daughters or anyone else truly happy, he failed to find the glory of fathering the son for which he constantly longed. He crisscrossed the globe upon his travels but he never did find the secret brake which might have decelerated his world to a tolerably peaceful speed.
Only when senility crowded out from his mind the more fatuous mental calculations necessary to the scuffling, virile business of living, did Littlechap find a brief opportunity to reflect, upon the ultimate failure of his superficial successes. Like Everyman, he recalled the past in a fleeting parade of memories but, since the world of Littlechap moved at a more relentless rate, it was much too late to pause for remorse. As he tumbled breathlessly off his swirling world, Littlechap should have considered the Mayonnaise Jar.
When 24 Hours in a day is not enough,
Remember the mayonnaise jar and 2 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 a unanimous
'yes.'
The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the
entire contents 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 - family,
children, health, Friends, and Favourite 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.
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.1
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.
Lewis Rose
Previous Musings - Click on the date to read the article
December 2007 by Elisabeth Spence
January 2008 by Cate Adams
February 2008 by Douglas Wright
March 2008 by Lewis Rose
April 2008 by Lewis Rose
September 2008 by Allan Webster
October 2008 by Cate Adams
November 2008 by Peter Donald
December 2008 by Allan Webster
January 2009 by Cate Adams
August 2009 by Allan Webster
December 2009 by Allan Webster