It Only Takes A Little Spoon To Stir The Whole Pot

By Mark Giles

My lady and I were catching up on Downton Abbey episodes last night, and observing one of the characters rather catty attempts to encourage strife among her co-workers. After watching her carefully ply her trade, and witnessing how her devious strategy was playing out, I turned to my lady (I've started calling her that a lot more often after getting hooked on Downton Abbey) and said, "It only takes a little spoon to stir the whole pot."

My lady agreed. What struck us both as interesting in this specific exercise of pot-stirring was that the stiree wasn't powerful, beautiful, well dressed or exceptionally eloquent. She was merely focused on her task at hand, which was to cause strife among her "friends", and to get them warring against each other. And she was succeeding.

We obviously need our pots to be stirred. Very rare is there an item placed on a stove that can be left unattended without unsatisfactory results, with the lone exception being boiling water. No one wants their soup, beans or oatmeal sticking to the bottom or boiling over the sides. It makes a mess, and it's not as pleasing to the tastebuds. But you don't necessarily need an oar to stir the goods, either. A simple teaspoon will often suffice. Just something to get the food spinning in a circle, and not resting on the bottom.

Maybe that's what we need a little more of in our work areas, too?
A pot stirrer to get things moving, and to keep us from resting on our bottom?

If the person doing the workplace stirring is generating productivity, then I'd say a dash of creative stirring can go a long way.
But be careful if you're the one who decides to be the spoon, as a little bit of the hot sauce will often splash up on you.
Redness, stinging, improvisational dance and some pain induced expletives can be the result.
All proof that you, in fact, were the one doing the stirring.

It only takes a little spoon to stir the whole pot.
Silver, tin, stainless steel or plastic....they can all get the job done.

So, smell anything cooking around you that's needing a little attention?
I betcha there's a spoon somewhere close by.
Maybe several, already in use.

Stir carefully, my friend.