Good For Something

  Granddad always used to tell me that I needed to make myself useful.  Each and everyday, I was to find something to do so I would be "good for something".  I think it was more of a way to keep me busy and out of the way but I searched hard to find that bit of usefulness each day.  Being the youngest of five siblings, it seemed that I was more "in the way" than "good for anything".  But, I tried.  I fed the cats.  They seemed to appreciate the extra food and soon became fat and lazy!  That lasted until Pop told me that the cats were not doing their jobs of keeping the rats and mice out of the barns.  I moved on to watering the porch plants.  Carrying that water from the kitchen to the porch was a hard job for a 4 year old but I kept at it!  At least I did until Mom told me that I was making a mess by leaving a trail of splashed water.  Next, I thought perhaps I could help gather the eggs from the hen house.  That did not last long as the hens were not appreciative of a toddler stealing their eggs.  (Chicken pecks hurt!)  I tried my hand at weeding the rows in the field but soon found that I could not tell a bean plant from a weed.  Thus ended that chore. My usefulness seemed to be a hard thing to find.  Eventually, things all fell into order and I was assigned jobs on the farm that fit my age.  The chores included picking ripe fruit, hand washing the fresh eggs and packing them in boxes for sale, arranging fruit and vegetables on the market table and feeding the chickens. (They were not so apt to peck when they saw corn being scattered on the ground!) I felt good about myself as I was now "good for something".

  All of these memories came flooding back this morning as I observed an item being "good for something".  Years ago, Hurricane Katrina "donated" many items to us via the flood waters.  One was a duck decoy.  Where this thing came from was beyond me but since I had it, I might as well use it.  The plastic duck was tossed into the Frog Pond and there it has resided since.  It was not my intention to coax live ducks into the little pond but use the thing as a decoration of sorts.  Today, however, I noticed that the duck being used.  The frogs in the pond have decided that the decoy was a good perching place.  Two fine frogs were sitting atop of the floating duck!  While this looked humorous, it made me think that, at least, that old duck was not a waste.  It was good for something!  A bit of satisfaction was achieved!