38. Mercy Buckets - Drive-By Truckers

There’s a window opposite my kitchen bench that faces west. When the blinds are open, late on a spring day, the afternoon sun streams in.

As I’ve written before, I worked with my dad a few years ago to learn some of the basics of woodworking.

I have a chopping board I made from that time, when I used those lessons to turn ugly old chairs into a useful, attractive kitchen utensil.

I was using this chopping board this evening, preparing for tonight’s dinner. I had music playing and my wife was in the other room, feeding our son. 

Then I noticed that the sun was beaming in, lighting the board and warming my hands. 

It was that kind of warming sun you get in Melbourne this time of year - after the gloomy desperation of winter but before the vindictive burn of summer.

It felt good, the moment felt good, life felt good. 

Then the outstanding, wonderful, dream of a song by Drive By Truckers, Mercy Buckets came on. 

“When all your good days keep getting shorter, 

count on me,

When you’re ‘bout 20 cents shy of a quarter, 

count on me,

When you just need a place to hide out for a while, 

I’ll help you hide the bodies in a little while”

I adore this song. It’s my favourite track off my favourite of their albums. 

Every part of it is perfect.

The guitar is sharply mellow, the lyrics are - like most of their stuff - wonderful and the beat could be coming from a worn boot tapping on a timber floor. 

Even Patterson Hood’s voice - never the warmest sound - is utterly right and correct. 

It’s a song about friendship, support and those people in our lives that will gladly jump in a ditch with you if it means helping you out. 

As the first verse wrapped up, standing there slicing onions with sun-warmed hands, I started thinking. 

And I happily realised - life’s pretty damned good, and one sign of that is that I haven’t had to have someone bring me buckets of mercy. 

My life is a fortunate one. 

I have a fantastic, healthy family. I have incredible friends; work that’s rewarding and fulfilling; more control over my time than many people and my own health. 

I have the ability, time, resources and flexibility to stand in my kitchen, in the afternoon sun, cutting onions and that’s something worth recognising. 

We’ve not experienced many of the hardships life can inflict and I am, in a historical context, presented with an unbelievable degree of options and freedom. 

Finally, I’ve been very lucky in my life that when things have been difficult I’ve had people I could rely on, people that were there for me and people that would jump right in the muck with me to help. 

Which is lucky. 

This isn’t bragging either. 

I’ve been lucky and that luck could turn. In fact, it most likely will. 

Many other people have been fortunate, and many haven’t and this is often - more often than we like to admit I suspect - down to a roll of the dice. 

So I’m grateful and appreciative of my good fortune. 

I realised I don’t love this song purely for it’s supportive, us-against-the-world message. 

I think I also love the idea of being the carrier of buckets of mercy. 

“When you’re down and out, I’ll pick you up down the station.

Put your hard times on vacation. 

And get you headed on your way.”

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realised that I’m far more comfortable, far more useful, being the helper than the helped, the supporter over the supported.

Why?

Who knows, could be any number of reasons - pride, avoidance, confidence, interest - but the reasons aren’t as important as the outcome. 

Which might be why I love this song so much. 

Not for the message of strength in numbers, the power of support or the magic of friendship, the reassurance that things may not be ok, but if you’ve got someone in your corner then that is its own kind of ok. 

But because being able to help, being the one to carry the buckets of mercy, or bring the shovel, or jump down into the ditch, is a a really meaningful idea to me.

That being that person helps bolster my sense of what I’m doing. 

Which helps to explain why I do what I do for a living. 

Being able to help people is a valuable, critical part of my personality. And doing so by helping people navigate life’s big financial storms, well that just makes it more meaningful. 

“I will bring you buckets of mercy, 

And hold your hand when you’re crossing the street,

Pay your bail if you need it.

I will be your saving grace.”

This is, to me, what my job is about. 

It’s not about the numbers or the insurance or the investments or the superannuation or the legislation or the paperwork or any of the other technical elements. 

It’s about helping people when they need it, and being there while they find their high ground. 

And this was my revelation, standing at my kitchen bench, in the afternoon sun, preparing our dinner using the chopping board my father helped me make. 

Like I said, life’s pretty good.