"Old Saying Asks the Question of---'Is It Worth It'?" by Susan Pearl

Like trying to find a needle in a haystack


If I were asked to find a needle in a haystack I would consider my options.  Does a needle activate a metal detector?  Can a magnet be used in some way?  But if these items were not available and strand by strand each piece of hay had to be looked at, it would be very time consuming and tedious but it could be possible.

Some people might think it is not worth the effort and they would not use the haystack or they would just go ahead and buy a new needle.  Some things are too hard to do for what they are worth in the end.  And, of course, a person could spend all of that time and effort and not ever find the needle anyway.  Sometimes it just makes sense to move on and not give a lot of effort to a project that may prove to be a waste of time in the end and really not worth the effort.  A person has to decide it is worth the effort because the effort will be intense and have the very real possibility of being done in vain.

Hay with a needle in it cannot be fed to cattle because of the possibility that the needle could cause harm to a cow. What if it is the last stack of hay and the cattle are hungry?  So different settings and different demands would all have different impacts on making the decision if all of the effort and time would be worth the outcome and what is more important.