Glass Completely Empty

Share

My students roll their eyes at most of my jokes. A few weeks ago, when asked if I was a glass half empty or half full kind of person, I told them that it was always completely full, just not of what you would like. I realized today that sometimes I act as if the glass were completely empty. I also realized that's not necessarily a bad thing.

You see, when I finish a glass of milk, that's not a bad thing. I got to have the milk. If that's what I wanted, I got what I wanted, and it was satisfying while I drank it. Just because the glass is empty now doesn't mean that it wasn't once full or that I didn't enjoy its contents.

Each of us probably knows this feeling. We return from a vacation to the doldrums of daily duty and betimes forget that we just came back from something amazing. I enjoy my life. I have been able to do and see things that other people can only dream, including things that I only dreamed originally. I never planned to have either the time or the money to afford this because I expected to have the responsibilities of a wife and children. Just because we are not doing what we want in this moment doesn't mean we can't enjoy that with which our glass is currently filled.

Maybe this is why people throw the cliches at us about enjoying what we have. "Don't regret that it's over," they say, "but celebrate that it happened." I have seen some spectacular things and experienced wonderful events. I have shared things when I could, but I have availed myself of the opportunity to go and do while others sit and stew. Honestly sometimes I wish I had more milk; I did enjoy the glass I had, and the emptiness of the glass does not diminish how much I enjoyed what was once in it.

There is one instance in which an empty glass is a tragedy. Even if someone else drank it, it's possible that it was enjoyed. There is tragedy in spilt milk. It was lost, not enjoyed by anyone. In a few rare cases, someone else will purposely throw it away so that you can't enjoy it, but if you did enjoy it and it was what you wanted, what's wrong with an empty glass? Moreover, now there's opportunity to fill it with something else you think you might enjoy.

Ok, I'll confess I'm talking to myself and thinking aloud in a stream of consciousness. I'm trying to tell myself that it's ok that things I once enjoyed seem to be finished. I'm trying to find a greater meaning in the memories and experiences of the past few years. I'm trying to make them matter. I'm trying to find passion and purpose and in so doing give you a reason for hope and purpose in your own life. I've been very disappointed, but the truth was that there have been good times, and the other truth is that I did the best I can. Even if someone else spilt my glass, at least I filled it with something worth enjoying.