Subject: Marbles {Insp}
From: Unicorn (unicorn@indenial.com)
Date: Sun Jul 23 2000 - 02:48:00 EDT
"1,000 Marbles"
I'm a Ham radio operator and spend some time working
with radios and electronics. So when I heard this story
it really made me think! I hope that you will find some
application in your own life as well...
A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the basement
shack with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and
the morning paper in the other. What began as a typical
Saturday morning, turned into one of those lessons that
life seems to hand you from time to time. Let me tell
you about it.
I turned the dial up into the phone portion of the band on
my ham radio in order to listen to a Saturday morning
swap net. Along the way, I came across an older sounding
chap, with a tremendous signal and a golden voice. You
know, the kind, he sounded like he should be in the
broadcasting business. He was telling whoever he was
talking with something about "a thousand marbles."
I was intrigued and stopped to listen to what he had to
say. "Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you're busy with your
job. I'm sure they pay you well but it's a shame you have
to be away from home and your family so much. Hard to
believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy
hours a week to make ends meet. Too bad you missed
your daughter's dance recital."
He continued, "Let me tell you something Tom, something
that has helped me keep a good perspective on my own
priorities." And that's when he began to explain his theory
of " a thousand marbles."
"You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The
average person lives about seventy-five years. I know, some
live more and some live less, but on average, folks live
about seventy-five years."
"Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3,900
which is the number of Saturdays that the average person
has in their entire lifetime. Now stick with me Tom, I'm getting
to the important part."
"It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this
in any detail", he went on, "and by that time I had lived through
over twenty-eight hundred Saturdays. I got to thinking that if I
lived to be seventy-five, I only had about a thousand of them
left to enjoy."
"So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they
had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to round-up
1,000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside of a
large, clear plastic container right here in the shack next to
my gear. Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble
out and thrown it away."
"I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused
more on the really important things in life. There is nothing
like watching your time here on this earth run out to help
get your priorities straight."
"Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign-off with you
and take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning, I
took the very last marble out of the container. I figure if I make
it until next Saturday then I have been given a little extra time.
And the one thing we can all use is a little more time."
"It was nice to meet you Tom, I hope you spend more time
with your family, and I hope to meet you again."
You could have heard a pin drop on the radio when this fellow
signed off. I guess he gave us all a lot to think about. I had
planned to work on the antenna that morning, and then I was
going to meet up with a few hams to work on the next club
newsletter. Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up
with a kiss.
"C'mon honey, I'm taking you and the kids to breakfast."
"What brought this on?" she asked with a smile.
"Oh, nothing special, it's just been a long time since we
spent a Saturday together with the kids. Hey, can we stop
at a toy store while we're out? I need to buy some marbles."
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