Friday, August 11, 2006

Coffee Cups

A good friend of mine sent this to me.I hope you also enjoy it--


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.

All the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were 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 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 began eyeing each other's cups.

Now consider this: Life is the coffee, and 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 God has provided us." God brews the coffee, not the cups : enjoy your coffee.

6 comments:

starry said...

Me first..nice story. so true that "God brews the coffee, not the cups ". have a good weekend.

Usha said...

I agree completely with the point that the story makes.One has travelled far enough to realise what is important and what is not.
But just an aside of some of my immediate rections to the analogy when i received the email: The cups may be just tools but arent the right tools important for gettting the right results? For example I would have chosn a porcelain cup because I can handle a hot liquid better in it than in a plastic one: I'd certainly not take the crystal because the i would be more worried about the way i handle it and wont be able to enjoy my coffee. Going for what is most suited for the job at hand - is that too bad?

heheh.just trying to start an argument for the weekend ( i know you wont fall for it!!)

Movie Mazaa said...

The eyeing each others' cups caught my fancy and imagination. If only one learned to get over this constant harrowing process of comparison and contrast, and finally lay down all content with what one had, the world would have been a much better place!

:)

Suji said...

So true. We are always more concernced with the unnecessary details and miss out on real life in the process. And then we crib about it as if its somebody else's fault.

Hip Grandma said...

lalitha:glad you liked the story.I too found it good.

usha:how come the professor didn't think of clay/earthernware cups like our Lalu Prasad Yadav did?They can be used and thrown and won't even harm the environmaent like the plastic ones.jobs these days are like disposable cups.no one wants to keep them for ever.but you are right i too would run miles from crystal cups.they look best as decorative items.our 'tumbler and dabara' are the best.don't you think so?
we should get together sometime it'd be fun!

Velu:yours is just wishful thinking.sometimes dreams do come true.let's not lose hope.

suji:It is so easy mess up with life and blame others.you are right.when do we learn to accept responsibility?

Hip Grandma said...

well interpreted and thought provoking.Quality is what matters at the end of the day.