[gardener]

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

So far so good (but it does get better!) Your philosophy professor's analogy gets at the fundamental distinction between a really full life and one that's simply busy (filled with sand or other stuff). What's going on here is something like the encounter of Socrates, who is about to be tried for impiety, and the young, self-important Euthyphro, who is about to bring charges against his own father for murder, because not bringing charges would amount to impiety. Socrates asks him, "then you know what piety is?" "Of course" is the reply. "If I did not know I would not be better than almost anyone else." And then the chase begins!

But Q, what's really marvelous in your fable is that if the professor had stopped with "the rest is just sand," he would have been preaching, not teaching. Preaching really doesn't do much good in this world, does it?

But. " It just goes to show you that no
matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of
beers!! "

This professor has a sense of humor, a lack of sel-importance. Bravo!