EBME Forums Forums Free discussion Out of Hours Hints For Life

And an honourable mention goes to:-

"Life is a Lemon (and I Want my Money Back)" ... sung by Meat Loaf. Ha, ha.

And (more seriously), I like the words to "When I'm Back on My Feet Again" by Diane Warren (and sung by Michael Bolton). That song will have great meaning for many, no doubt. Diane Warren is quoted as saying that "the song wrote itself ... I was thinking about my Dad who had recently passed away, and it just came pouring out".

Geoff - that bugged the crap outa me - I'd heard it someplace, and it wasn't the military (Greenjackets in '65-'68)..... Then it came to me - it was on a tombstone in the USA someplace, and I recall thinking what a lot of carving for one man.

"The Indispensable Man" by Saxon White Kessinger, 1959

Sometime when you're feeling important;
Sometime when your ego 's in bloom;
Sometime when you take it for granted,
You're the best qualified in the room:
Sometime when you feel that your going,
Would leave an unfillable hole,
Just follow these simple instructions,
And see how they humble your soul.

Take a bucket and fill it with water,
Put your hand in it up to the wrist,
Pull it out and the hole that's remaining,
Is a measure of how much you'll be missed.
You can splash all you wish when you enter,
You may stir up the water galore,
But stop, and you'll find that in no time,
It looks quite the same as before.

The moral of this quaint example,
Is to do just the best that you can,
Be proud of yourself but remember,
There's no indispensable man.

Well now - I've used it a few times (or at least the spirit of it) to explain to people in the workplace that NOBODY is indispensible, and those who think they are are usually the first up against the wall when the shooting starts.

Apparently the guy who wrote it is pretty pissed people keep publishing it without crediting him - so I thought I'd just give him a name-check for proprieties sake.....

I still recall the occasion when I first came across that piece. I was on duty one evening at the gym in Arborfield (it would have been 1978) and I came across it in (as I say) a copy of "Mind Body & Spirit" (the Journal of the APTC). I wrote it down, and would also have noted the attribution (had one been given) as - even back then - I was generally pretty good about that sort of thing.

Anyway ... so know we know (and thanks for that).

For more (much more) in similar vein ... see here.

But ... you'll be telling me next that "Then As Now" wasn't published in 66 AD!

THEN AS NOW

We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams, we would be reorganized. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing, and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while only producing
confusion, inefficiency and demoralization.

- Petronius Arbiter - 66 AD

Meanwhile ... pissed off about not being credited? More like pissed off about not collecting royalties, I should imagine (although we should be OK with P.Arbiter Esq.). I sometimes see (or rather, hear) of my own stuff being used. But (to me) that's a good thing ... as I keep saying, and as far as I'm concerned, "Spreading the Word" is what it's all about.

Or, put another way, do we ever hear of Mr.Jesus moaning on about being quoted so often?

Blimey Geoff - that Pete Arbiter bloke must have written the BT "Human Resources" manual. I was only there (SYSAdmin and some hands-on Engineering down in the Smoke) for a few years, but we spent more time doing reorganisation than actually working for profit. And it DID get demoralising. Especially when we found a bloke who'd "fallen out of the system" about two years previously, had no line manager, no department and just came in every day and twiddled his thumbs..... everyone assumed he "worked" for somebody else!

As for that Jesus chappy - I often hear him quoted when someone else does something stupid (gas-bottle dropped on foot, screwdriver slips through hand - that kind of stuff.....). So when the people come to my door and ask if I want to talk about him and read their magazine, I usually tell them I work for his oppo, Stan (think that's his name, though he signs B.L.Zebub on the invoices.....). They are probably collecting royalties.

You often hear folk struggling for (begging for, and no doubt receiving) redemption when they realise they are about to croak, as well. In many cases, it's a great pity that they didn't wise up a little earlier in Life's Journey. But there you go.

Meanwhile, Petronius is (was) quite a well known figure, with the quote I gave being the one for which he is best remembered. Surely you must have come across him before?

Pete Arbiter..... nah - 'e was before my time (although now you've drawn 'im to my attention I 'ave tah say he's pretty "on-the-ball").

Though come to think of it, I did read some Xenophon many years ago (con-tem of old Socrates so about 500 years too early, and a bit of a rough-and-tumble merchant, but told some good tales). But no - the nearest I've come to Peter was Dallas Arbiter, who made some fine amps for us guitar players, back in the day. Probably a relative. Or not.

Do you remeber JANet (she used to hang off ARPANet back in the day - when I cut my computing teeth on London University's PDP11's.....) I only ask because your unhealthy obsession with the BBC's suggests an IT leaning on your part.

Life in a Bottle

A philosophy professor stood before his class and had some items in front of him. Wordlessly he picked up a large empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks about 2" in diameter. He then asked the students if the jar was full.

They agreed that it was.

So the professor picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks. He then asked the students again if the jar was full.

They agreed it was.

The students laughed. The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. "Now," said the professor, "I want you to recognize that this here, is your life. The rocks are the important things - your family, your partner, your health, your children, things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, your car. The sand is everything else. The small stuff. If you put the sand into the jar first, there is no room for the pebbles or the rocks."

The same goes for your life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out dancing. There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party and fix the disposal.

Take care of the rocks first-the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."

But then...a student took the jar, which the other students and the professor agreed was full, and proceeded to pour in a glass of beer. Of course, the beer filled the remaining spaces within the jar, making it truly full.

Which proves: - no matter how full your life is, there is always room for a BeeR!

That's not an obsession ... simply an appreciation of fine art!

No, I think I can honestly claim that I have no peculiar "leanings". I like to think of myself as one who has remained true to the Faith (of Biomed, I mean).


Indeed ... else the function will fail for sure.

Some good references to wise words have been made particularly with regards to the poem 'Footprints in the sand', check it out if you can. Also like 'The living years', there is one excellent line in there that gets directly to the point.

I find it somewhat surprising that we have got this far into the topic without somebody mentioning some wise words of the 'Bard'. One of his that I like, although not necessarily a hint for life, more like an observation on life for some.

'When sorrows come, they come not single spies....but in battalions'.

Be Ye Not Surprised, as I believe we may have had Big Tony's favourite on here before:-

"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers ..."