Bucket Lists have become very popular in recent years. The idea of compiling a list of things to do or achieve before shuffling off the mortal coil seems rather appealing to a lot of people, and it's understandable. We all want our lives to mean something, and most of us have longed for adventure at one point or another. It's easy to end up 40 or 50years old and realize that time is not an inexhaustible commodity in our lives. Having a list of stuff we want to experience before we die seems like a rational way to plan and make those things come to pass.

But I'm beginning to hate a lot of the common things I see on bucket lists. Not judging people's choices, but if one scours the Internet, there are lots and lots of "Top 10" and "Top 100" bucket lists. Some of these are undoubtedly fantasies that some writer came up with for a website, and others seem to be the most popular answers from surveys, so who knows how many folks really have these things on their personal bucket lists. Still, some of these entries seem pretty badly thought out for one reason or another, and maybe it's time to rethink them before they end up on another list.

5. The I'm a Good Person List Item

I think most people want to be considered kind and compassionate to others. Yes, there are some unrepentantly selfish people that don't seem interested in being nice, but most of us seem to place some importance on that. That's probably why I see quite a few Internet bucket list "best of" articles that include something like, "Perform a kind deed without expecting anything in return."

Yes, we should perform a kind deed without expecting the person benefiting from your kindness to repay it in some way, or without it benefiting us at all.

Shouldn't we do that kind of thing anyway? Why is that a bucket list item? Unless a person is a total rat bastard, shouldn't he or she be treating people kindly and trying to be helpful throughout their lives? If being kind or acting selflessly is such a rarity in a person that they reserve it for a once in a lifetime bucket list activity...wow.

I can see them walking off afterwards saying, "I hope y'all enjoyed that one act of kindness of mine, thanks for helping me scratch something off my bucket list, I'm going back to being an awful person now."