What’s in the Bucket?
The Rev. Daniel R. Heischman, Executive Director
You may know the story that Harry Mathews, former chaplain and retired school head, tells about a visit he made to Fiji. During that visit, he spent some time in a small village that was located on the banks of a swiftly-flowing and debris-filled river. While standing on the edge of that river one day, he saw a young boy on the opposite bank who proceeded to walk into the rapidly moving water, carrying a heavy tin bucket. Slowly, carefully, the boy slipped into the river, all of the time holding the bucket he was carrying above the water line. As the boy made his way across the river, Harry Mathews was struck by two things: first, the energy and courage it took to keep holding that bucket above the water; secondly, he kept wondering to himself, what was in the bucket that was so precious? What contents were so valuable that the child would risk his own safety to keep them unharmed?
Later, Mathews would discover the contents of the bucket—it was the boy’s schoolbooks!
It may not be schoolbooks, but chances are that all of the people who come to our schools each day—students, faculty, staff, administrators, and parents—come in part because of something they find at school, each day, that would be worth preserving in the same fashion. Each one of us, I dare say, have some things we cherish about coming to school that we would hope to keep above the water line.
The things we would put in our respective buckets may differ greatly, but as we draw toward Thanksgiving we might pause and remember the potential contents, those things that give us hope, meaning, indeed a sense of life itself. In some cases it may well be the very things we take most for granted in the course of our busy lives.
What would go in your bucket this Thanksgiving? What needs to be remembered, held up above the waters, in thanks to God for the blessings they bring? They may not only be the things we regard as precious and worthy of preservation at all costs, they may also be the very things that help us navigate the dangerous waters we must travel each day.
I wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving!