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A group of alumni, highly
established in their careers, got together to visit their old university
professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and
life.
Offering his guests
coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of
coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some
plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves
to the coffee.
When all the students
had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said, "If you noticed, all the
nice looking expensive cups have been taken up, leaving behind the plain and
cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves,
that is the source of your problems and stress.
"Be assured that
the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more
expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really
wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups...
And then you began eyeing each other's cups.
"Now consider this:
Life is the coffee; the jobs, money, and position in society are the cups. They
are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not
define, nor change the quality of life we live.
"Sometimes, by
concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee.
"Savor the coffee, not
the cups! The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make
the best of everything.
"Live simply. Love
generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly."
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