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catstevens
06-22-2006, 02:05 PM
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Hi everyone, I hope you all are fine and happy today and everyday, Amen =)
I found the following story and I'd like to share it with ya :)
you can start reading it from the red star*

By Henrylito D. Tacio Source (http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/dav/2005/08/13/feat/a.cup.of.coffee..html)
Chris Brown, my co-editor of the book, In Search of Excellence: Exemplary Forest Management in Asia and the Pacific, sent me a "nice story" that "might work into one of your columns one day." Below is the story, but I have tried to modify it: A week before their college graduation, seven friends went to the office of their professor and talked with him. "Sir," one of them said, "is it possible if eight years from now we will meet in your house and have a reunion?" The professor answered affirmatively. Several years passed and the seven friends became very successful in their chosen fields. Jonathan is now heading his own business firm in Makati. Rudy is a highly respected forester working in a UN agency in Rome. Gary has a flourishing career as a consultant in Bangkok. Anselmo is a renowned physician in Cebu City. The three others - Carlos, Rodel, and James - are all engineers working in other parts of the world: Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and Canada, respectively. Eight years later, all seven got together at their professor's house. Talk, talk, talk, and more talk. Soon, *conversation 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, some plain looking and some expensive and exquisite, telling them to help themselves to hot coffee. When all the seven friends 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 but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the better cups and are eyeing each other's cups." The professor continued: "Now, if life is coffee, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life, but the quality of life doesn't change. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it." J. Richard Sneed reminds: "Life is currently described in one of four ways: as a journey, as a battle, as a pilgrimage, and as a race. Select your own metaphor, but the finishing necessity is all the same. For if life is a journey, it must be completed. If life is a battle, it must be finished.If life is a pilgrimage, it must be concluded. And if it is a race, it must be won."
For comments, write me at tasyo2002@yahoo.com.
Have a nice , peaceful and faithful day
*Peace and love*

Yours Sincerely,

Cat Stevens

BlackBillBlake
06-22-2006, 06:47 PM
To extend the metaphors used there - if life is a gift, then we have to be open to recieve that gift.


Nice story Cat.

themnax
07-11-2006, 10:44 PM
thank you cat, and my your days find blessings too.

well i don't see life as all those competing things but as what is at hand, to be enjoyed for what it is. and i think people are really really silly about the cups. we could so much not make life more difficult for each other without that.

i want to have things too. but only things i can enjoy using. using to create and explore with. not to affect how anyone thinks about me.

to think about how they affect the world that surrounds them, how we all do, creating and doing what helps that, this is a good thing yes.

a journey of exploration for the gratification of exploring, NOT the persuit of some special specific 'destination'.

and you know, mohammid, christ, baha'u'llah, and probably most if not all of the others, would have let everyone else take their cups first and choosen the humblest ones that would be sufficient to contain the coffee without leaking or scalding their hands with it. at least that's what i like to believe about them anyway.

being only fallable and human i don't always do that myself. i have preferances as to shapes and patterns and color. but at least they have nothing to do with what anyone thinks anyone else would be impressed by.

=^^=
.../\...

catstevens
07-12-2006, 02:41 PM
Hi BlackBillBlake :)
To extend the metaphors used there - if life is a gift, then we have to be open to recieve that gift.Nice story Cat.
Plus this (http://www.hipforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2646951&postcount=46)
Hi themnax :D Haven't seen you in a while, hope you're fine, full of energy and enjoying Allah's creation
thank you cat,
You are more than welcome =)
and my your days find blessings too.
Thank you very much, yeah they do so , it increased since I registered in these forums :) may Allah bless Skip
well i don't see life as all those competing things but as what is at hand, to be enjoyed for what it is. and i think people are really really silly about the cups. we could so much not make life more difficult for each other without that.i want to have things too. but only things i can enjoy using. using to create and explore with. not to affect how anyone thinks about me.

Agreed, Check this (http://www.hipforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2646951&postcount=46) "Now, if life is coffee, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life, but the quality of life doesn't change. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it." Thais is the point here.
and you know, mohammid, christ, baha'u'llah, and probably most if not all of the others, would have let everyone else take their cups first and choosen the humblest ones that would be sufficient to contain the coffee without leaking or scalding their hands with it. at least that's what i like to believe about them anyway.
In this story the Coffee is life, the jobs, money and position in society etc are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life, but what is life ? it is about what? what are your goals ? if everyone has his own view then I think his choice will depend on that. I think I have to know the coffee first to understand it then I will pick a cup which suits my goals and understanding of life , go along with it, to achieve them. When you were a student or If you want to be a doctor isn't like when you want to be a singer, your life style (cups) are very different. I have to pick a lifestyle which leads me to achieve my goals. If I am a student I can't have the same life style of a singer otherwise I may fail at school.
Have a nice , peaceful and faithful day
*Peace and love*

Yours Sincerely,

Cat Stevens