Rocks, Pebbles, Sand, and Beer

I walked into my required "Capstone" class today not wanting to be there. At UNI you have to take one random class on a random subject your Junior or Senior year. I decided to go for what everyone says is the easiest, Environment, Technology, and Society. Of course I didn't know what the subject was even going to be. I walked to the part of campus I've never been in before and went into the Industrial Tech Center, sitting down in a classroom that had all sorts of technical stuff on the walls that I had no idea what they were about. (Dean, you would know I'm sure)

The prof walked in and looked like what I would have pictured a technical prof to look like, a sturdy older man with white hair. But what he talked about the next 2 hours threw me off guard.

He started right off the bat by talking about how this class had been forced on him 15 years ago and how he thought the school objectives for it were poorly done. He then told us of his history of giving almost everyone A's, how he got in trouble with the admin. for it but then they let it slide since they needed profs for the course no one wanted to teach. He talked about how we are all part of one big picture and how we all effect one another. Rather than some boring science class he views it as a philosophy class where we share how Environment, Tech, and Society all interact together, mixing in some spiritual elements as well.

Then he proceeded to pull out a small plastic bucket the size of a coffee can and fill it to the brim with large rocks.

"Is this bucket full" he asked us as we looked on confused.

Well yeah, it was full, we said, wondering how this was relevent

He then went on to pour in smaller pebbles, filling in the spaces between the rocks...

"Full?" he asked, we said yeah but knew this had to be going somewhere

Soon sand was poured and packed in and to top it off he finished off by pulling out a beer and pouring it in, sipping the rements that wouldn't fit.

Then he started.

"The rocks represent those things in life that are very important to you, family and friends. The pebbles are things that are important but only slightly such as school, work, bills. When you get down the the sand those are the things in life that are important momentarily but fleeting. You have to focus on the big picture first, family and friends, if you put the numerous little things first, if you fill your bucket with sand, there is no room for the most important things in life. In this class I want to look at the big rocks, the important things to your lives"

Well what's the beer for?

"To remind ourselves that there is always room and time to sit back and have a beer"

The class laughed and applauded.