JUST A DROP IN THE BUCKET - OR IS IT?
- Johanna Socha
- Jan 21
- 2 min read
I love old sayings and expressions...
I think they stand the test of time for a few reasons:
They’re fun to use.
They come in handy.
They’re usually true.
But I’ve always had a bit of a skewed outlook on some of those ‘feel good’ expressions.
Here are a few of my favorites and my take on them:
The cup is either half empty or half full.
Get a bigger cup and you won’t have to worry about how you feel about it.
Everything happens for a reason.
No, sometimes things just happen, and they’re bad, so stop wasting your time trying to find a reason.
If I had a nickel for every time...
Then I’d have a big heavy bag of nickels that I could swing at the next person talking about their cup being half full and all the reasons behind it.
If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck...
It may walk, talk and quack like a duck, and sometimes it’s wearing a really well-fitted duck suit.
So accept that it's a duck - and don't try to find reasons that it may actually be a bunny rabbit.
Take the high road.
Sometimes there's just no fun and satisfaction in that. There really isn't.
And finally:
It’s just a drop in the bucket.
Yep. And usually it’s a really big bucket and drops are so tiny and insignificant, so why bother?
The bucket probably has a hole at the bottom anyway.
Well this last saying has come back to kick me repeatedly in the proverbial...bucket.
Because sometimes the drops do add up.
Funny how women who have buckets they are trying to fill, are usually more than willing to share.
And they continue to.
Maureen Eykelenboom, Island Gals contributor and founder of Boomer’s Legacy clarified that expression for me one day by saying, “eventually the bucket fills up.”
But the beauty of women I meet along the way is that their buckets all seem to have spouts—ready at a moment's notice to fill up other buckets.
Maureen!
Maybe this means the bucket shouldn’t actually fill up!
Maybe it’s just supposed to be thankful for every drop that is contributed, and pay it forward by finding someone whose bucket may need a little help filling up.
And hopefully they’ll install some spouts in their own buckets and so on...
Maybe the buckets are meant to be kept at a nice steady level, with spouts added for sharing when someone else’s bucket is a little low.
One drop at at time.
I wonder what would happen if we turned up the tap a little.
By Johanna Socha . First Published in Island Gals Magazine . 2012 . Volume 2 . Issue 4
