---------------------------------

Mary asked:

What Is The Meaning Of Life?

============

The other day I got an e-mail out of the blue from a friend in Belfast, the e-mail consisted of a little
story that had been floating about the web for a while, I think I will tell it here:

One day a Philosophy professor came to the lecture hall carrying no notes, handouts,
overheads or any of the academic paraphernalia, instead what he did have was an empty
mayonnaise jar and a bag of rocks.

He placed the jar on the desk for all the students to see.

"Is this jar empty?" he asked.

"Yes" agreed all the students.

Then he poured the rocks (about two inches in diameter) into the jar.

"Is the jar now full?" he asked the class.

"Yes, sure it's full" they all said.

The professor then got a hand full of smaller rocks, pebbles really, and put them in the jar,
gave it a little shake about and the pebbles and rocks mixed in the jar.

"What now?" he asked, "is the jar more full?"

"Er, yes" they said, not sure where this was going.

He then got some sand and put it into the jar until the sand filled all the nooks and crannies between
the rocks and pebbles, until he could get no more sand into the jar. He then asked the students, "Now
will we all agree that then jar is absolutely full, we cannot get any more rocks or sand in the jar?"

"Yes" they all agreed.

"Good, Now to explain, the jar is the world, our life, the rocks are the big things in our life, the
important things; love, friends, happiness. The pebbles are the other things in our life, our homes,
jobs, cars. And the sand is the little things, what colour top to wear with these shoes, what to call the
goldfish. Now what do you think would have happened to the jar if I had put the sand in first? You're
right, there would have been no room for the rocks. What does this mean, you ask? Always take care
of the big things first, there will always be time later to deal with the little things. Thank you for your
time."

Just then a young student got up and approached the professor and his jar. Without a word he
opened a can of beer and poured it into the jar.

The moral of the story? No matter how full your life is there is always room for BEER. I doubt this
answers the question but I like the story, especially the ending.

Brian Tee
Dept of Philosophy
University of Sheffield