“It’s half full.”
“I hate to disagree, but it is half empty.”
The debate had been going on for two hours and there did not appear to be any end in sight. Leave it to barroom philosophers to get into a debate about something as trivial as a glass of vodka on the rocks … long after the rocks had left the party.
“I’m telling you, it’s half full. The glass contains the drink. And the drink fills half the glass. Hence the glass is half full.”
“And I counter it is all a matter of perspective. When the drink was delivered to the table, the drink filled the glass. Half of the drink was consumed, leaving the previously occupied space devoid of the drink which had previously been there. Therefore, the glass is now half empty where before it was full.”
“Certainly, but you are assuming the single state of being. The glass is still full, albeit half the glass contains air whereas before it contained the drink. The glass, in so far as the drink is concerned and what is being debated, is half full.”
“We are not debating the duality of existence in relation to a drink. The drink, which is the focus of being, is half gone, leaving an area now void of drink. That void is the result of the previously filled space being emptied. And the emptying of the space is what gives the object its current state. That being half empty in relation to its previous state.”
“Ah, and nihilism rears its head! To claim that the space left after the drink has been consumed is akin to it being eliminated is erroneous. Truly it is merely a transition of the drink from one state to another. It still exists, though it exists within a different container. In this case, my stomach. It does not cause the drink to cease to be. It is merely in a state of flux, whereby the drink shall eventually be made whole again upon the completion of its transference. As it has not been eliminated in the true sense, the remaining drink fills half the space it did prior to the start of its transformation, and by filling half the space, it makes the glass half full.”
“I see what you are trying to say, but I feel you are overlooking a key element. In order for …”
I pulled out a chair and sat down at their table. Looking them both in the eye, I paused.
“Allow me to counter and prove you both wrong.”
I grabbed the glass and finished the drink.
“The glass is empty. Bartender, another round. Please make them shots this time.”