Lesson of 5 Balls

Sorry but this post is a recycled one from my early posts in 2004. Some of you may have read it before, and some may haven't. Then again the lesson is a good reminder n my life - still is even if I am juggling hard in some part.

I read a James Patterson's book titled Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas and I've come across the lesson of 5 balls. It is more or less like this:-

Imagine that you are a juggler juggling 5 balls that represents things that matters most in life ~ family, friends, health, integrity and work. You try hard to balance all 5 balls but then you finally understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back but family, friends, health and integrity is made of glass. If you drop one of it, it might be nicked, scarred and sometimes even shattered. Once you know the meaning of this lesson, you might see life in a different perspective.

Since I read that line from the book, I was thinking that James Patterson is right. It's the people that you care for most matters and not the career or material possession that you have. You can always get a new job even its hard to do so but if you lost a person that you love most or with your close friends in a fight and get them back after sometime, it won't be as it was before. There would always be a scar in the relationship. Loved ones will be skittish and friends would always have the feeling of mistrust when you dropped them from your juggling.

Friends.
I'm not such a good updater, I know that I tend to lose touch with my old friends. Making new friends, reacquainting with old friends that I consider my life-long friends that I could trust my life to them. Sometimes I feel that I want to round my friends up in a huge gathering. My friends from primary school, secondary, matric, university and work. Being an adult, it sure makes you think about responsibilities.

Let's not forget about health.
Of course we have lots of issues in this part. Irregular food intake with unbalance diet eg: too much protein, too much carbohydrate, too much sugar and all that - thanks to Dr. Phil and Co. prescriptions for weight conscious people. As humans, it is rare to find a human that is really really satisfied in how they looked like. The thin would want to be fuller and even some bizarre occurrence, be thinner and skeleton-like. The full figured would want to be thinner and of course even some bizarre notion, be fuller. Why can't someone just be satisfied as long as they are healthy and fit? This is the era for desk-jockeys who rarely move their rear from their seat and then come the prescription of pills which some actually had claimed some lives. Some took the easiest way when actually there is no shortcut in being healthy. Exercise moderately is the keyword as well as balanced diet.

Family.
Parents, siblings, spouse, child. We tend to be so busy that we forget about them. Simple phone calls, visits could bridge the gap. We can't predict the life-span of each human. Some have longer life-span and some might no even have the opportunity to see tomorrow. Cherish your family as you are not able to replace them in any way once they are gone.

Integrity.
Everyone have integrities, people's perception upon them. Can you trust a policeman who takes bribe to take care of your safety? Can you trust a doctor who does not know which ends of a scalpel to use to operate on you? Can you trust a teacher who acts inappropriately to teach you child daily? Integrity is valuable and once you lost this you may not even able to raise your face up proud.

I'm trying to live by the lesson of 5 balls and even if sometimes it is hard to make everyone happy at the same time but I try to. You never know how much time you have left to keep on juggling.