The Old Man And The Bucket

There's a story I heard about a month ago, and it's one that I would love to share with you guys.

*

Long ago, there was this old man that lived far from the nearest village. He would have to walk two hours along a dirt road to get into town and fill his buckets up with water, and then walk two hours back to his house. He brought home the water in two buckets.

One bucket was old and leaked water. The bucket felt bad because every time the old man would arrive home with him, he would be almost empty.

One day, the bucket finally decided to speak up and talk to his owner. "Master," he started with. "Why do you keep me? I am not as useful to the other bucket when it comes to transporting water. By the time we get home, I'm almost empty. I am no longer of any use to you."

The Master looked at the bucket and replied with "Tomorrow when we go to fetch water from the well in the village, I want you to look around you and see what you can."

The bucket agreed, and then next day, they went into town and the same thing happened on the way home. He was almost empty by the time that the other bucket, his Master and himself arrived back at their home. Once again, he felt less then helpful to his Master.

His Master sat down next to him and asked him what he saw. The bucket said "Well I noticed that on my side of the path while walking back from the village, there were many flowers. There were flowers and grass, it looked green and full of life, while on the other side, there was only dirt.

"That's correct," the Master smiled. "Although you see no use in yourself for transporting water, you were more than useful when it came to helping the flowers grow. Because you leaked over the dirt, you helped the flowers and the grass grow from the dirt. Although you are almost empty every time we arrive home, you helped to create something beautiful without knowing it. The other bucket couldn't have done it, it was only you that made the path beautiful. Because of you, we no longer see a boring dirt path, we see something wonderful."

*

Although you feel like you're not doing anything good, or that you're wasting time doing something,you never truly know how much of an impact it can have on something or someone else. It's important to remember that although you may not be the best at something or feel like you're making an impact, you could be.

You could be helping to create something beautiful.


One More Girl, no longer online