Sandra Day O’Connor read this poem during her retirement speech. I got a kick out of it.
There is No Indispensable Man
Sometime when you're feeling important
Sometime when your ego's in bloom
Sometime when you take it for granted
You're the best qualified in the room
Sometime when you feel that your going
Would leave an unfillable hole
Just follow these simple instructions
And see how they humble your soul
Take a bucket and fill it with water
Put your hand in it up to the wrist
Pull it out and the hole that's remaining
Is a measure of how you will be missed
You can splash all you wish when you enter
You may stir up the water galore
But stop and you'll find that in no time
It looks quite the same as before
The moral of this quaint example
Is do just the best that you can
Be proud of yourself but remember
There's no indispensable man
Saxon N. White Kessinger, ©1959