The Bucket List

“Bucket List” is a new phrase.  It hasn’t been around very long.  But there are some who argue that it has been around since the Middle Ages.  They are referring to a method of execution used at that time.  The victim stood on a bucket with a noose around his or her neck and when the right moment came the bucket was kicked out from under them and they would strangle to death.  Others say that it is a reference to the Catholic custom of  using holy water buckets.  A bucket would be filled with holy water and placed at the feet of a corpse so that family and friends who came to pay their respects could readily sprinkle the body with the water.  Both of these examples have more to do with “Kicking the Bucket”—a concept that has been around since Adam and Eve—but the use of the term “Bucket List” arrived in the 21st century.

A  bucket list, as you know, is about doing the things you want to do before you “Kick the Bucket.”  My mother and father never talked about their “bucket list,” even though they probably had a list of things they wanted to do before they died.  The term bucket list was popularized by the 2007 film The Bucket List, starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman.  It was chosen as one of the top ten films for 2007.  I’ve watched it a dozen times or more and enjoy it more each time I see it.

We are all going to kick the bucket at some point, so it seems obvious to me that we probably all have a bucket list whether written down on paper or written in our heart, soul, or mind.  A bucket list is a list of all the goals we want to achieve, dreams we want to fulfill and life experiences we would like to experience before we die.  Every one ought to have a bucket list to avoid getting caught up in the hurly-burly of day-to-day activities and never getting around to those goals, dreams and experiences.  Having a bucket list reminds us of what is really important and enables us to break away from that mundane and trivial stuff.

The truth of the matter is that most of us have had a bucket list from our earliest days—long before we could even fathom the reality that we might someday “Kick the Bucket.” This morning I’m looking back and looking forward at the bucket lists of my life.  I’m grateful for the goals accomplished, the dreams fulfilled, and the life experiences lived.   Many of the things that have happened in my life, however, were never items on my bucket lists—because I never, ever, thought or dreamed them possible—they just happened. This makes me think I ought not to work very hard at developing my present bucket list.  Oh, I will still have one, but I’ll also be open and ready for any surprise that comes along—gladly adding it to my list, or just simply relishing it and being grateful for it having come my way—before I kick the bucket!